CLEVELAND, Ohio – A new study provides more evidence that sildenafil (Viagra) which is used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) may help protect against Alzheimer’s disease (AD).
The large real-world analysis of patient data from two databases showed a 30%-54% reduced prevalence in AD among patients who took sildenafil (Viagra) than those who did not, after adjusting for potential confounding factors.
This observation was further supported by mechanistic studies showing decreased neurotoxic protein levels in brain cells exposed to the phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor (PDE5i).
“Our findings provide further weight to repurposing this existing FDA-approved drug as a novel treatment for Alzheimer’s, which is in great need of new therapies,” Feixiong Cheng, PhD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Genome Center, who led the research, said in a news release.
“We used artificial intelligence to integrate data across multiple domains which all indicated sildenafil’s potential against this devastating neurological disease,” Cheng noted.
The study was published online in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The findings support a study published earlier this year that found a potential protective effect of PDE5i treatment on AD risk, as previously reported by Medscape Medical News.
However, this research and the current study are contradicted by another paper published in Brain Communications in late 2022 which showed no such link between ED meds and reduced AD risk.
To read more, click on Medscape
