10 Most Popular Drugs for Treating Premature Ejaculation

Premature ejaculation is the most common male sexual dysfunction, affecting approximately 30% of men worldwide. Most experts are now dismissing psychological and behavioral therapies for treatment.  As a result, more and more men worldwide are turning to drugs for treatment.

Here are the 10 most popular drugs used to treat premature ejaculation worldwide.

PE Drugs can be put into three classifications based on the part of body that is affected:

1. Penis – Drugs the desensitize the penis.
2. Brain – Drugs that increase serotonin levels in the brain.
3. Vascular – Basically, these are erectile dysfunction drugs that keep you hard even after ejaculation.

 

Penis Sprays

Except for Trimix (see below), all drugs that act on the penis are topical anesthetics that desensitize the penis, slowing the ejaculatory response. Here are the most common ones. From my research, I estimate that 99+% of topical PE sprays and creams use one of these three drugs.

1. Lidocaine – The oldest and still most popular drug for the treatment of PE is lidocaine, going back to 1947. The most popular topical products – Promescent, Stud100 and KY Duration – use lidocaine.
2. Benzocaine – Lesser known brands use Benzocaine. I’m thinking it must be a cheaper drug or easier to formulate because the lower quality brands use it.
3. Lidocaine/Prilocaine mixture – This mixture creates a “eutectic formula” which enables better absorption of the anesthetic.  Minimizes transference to the partner, but also for more localized application (doesn’t spread across the penis), so more sensation. I haven’t seen any data on this.  Not very popular because prilocaine has more potential for serious side effects.  Two products that use this formula are EMLA and Fortacin (PSD502), both requiring a prescription. Promescent claims their product has a eutectic formula without the addition of prilocaine.

Premature Ejaculation Pills

When selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were invented in the 1990s for depression, one of the side effects was delayed orgasm in both men and women.  So doctors started to prescribe SSRIs off-label in great numbers for PE.   They still do.  The most popular are

4. Paxil
5. Zoloft

These drugs must be taken daily but come with many side effects.

While trying to create a faster-acting SSRI, researches are Eli Lilly created a drug called Dapoxetine which you can take 1-3 hours in advance of sex.  It is sold globally (not in the US) with the brand name:

6. Priligy – The most popular premature ejaculation pill in the world, although I found a study out of Korea that says that most men discontinue use at an extremely high rate.

There is another pill that is sometimes prescribed off-label for PE in the US called

7. Don’t know much about it but that it’s a pain-killer. Did a little reading on it and the best argument for success is that it increases serotonin in the brain.

Erectile Dysfunction Drugs for Premature Ejaculation

The popular ED Drugs:  Viagra, Cialis and Levitra are called PDE-5 Inhibitors.  PE guys seem to prefer:

8. Viagra
9. Sildenafil (generic Viagra)

For PE.  I think because they’re the most fast-acting.  These drugs don’t prevent premature ejaculation.  Instead, they shorten the refractory period – the time from ejaculation to the next erection.  Most guys last longer after recently ejaculating.

And, finally, there’s a class of drugs (mixtures, actually) that are injected into the penis for men to achieve an erection (ouch). These are for men with severe ED.  Apparently, you will get an erection whether aroused or not.  So the purpose of these drugs is to have zero refractory period.  In other words, you ejaculate and continue to maintain your erection.

10. Trimix – name for a the most popular mixture of drugs used off-label for PE.

By the way, I classified Trimix as an ED drug rather than a penis drug because of the way is works.  All the other penis drugs are desensitizers.