Sexologist Dr. Daniel Drai, known for his appearances on radio and television, has his own approach to treatment of premature ejaculation: a combination of various drugs on the market. He says that he did not know how to make money from it until he asked his wife, Sivan Goren, a former advertising manager at Ynet (the website of the "Yedioth Ahronoth" daily newspaper). "She realized that there was potential here, and we contacted the drug companies in order to commercialize the patent," he says, "but they said that the product was at too early a stage."
"Globes": How does your treatment for premature ejaculation work?
Drai: "One drug is from the TriCyclic family of antidepressants, but we use such a low dosage of it that it reaches only the spinal column, not the brain. The second drug is an alkaloid that relaxes the blood vessels. The combination enables each drug to neutralize the other's side effects. The alkaloid is a known drug for treatment of premature ejaculation that has been somewhat neglected in favor of Viagra."
Drai registered a patent for the combination and the doses of each drug, and called his company Serojec, with Goren as the CEO. The company has completed a Phase I trial to verify that the project is safe. A secondary purpose was to show signs of effectiveness. Drai says that the duration of erection was extended several times over, even though all of the volunteers in the trial were functioning normally. The trial was conducted in cooperation with the University of Vienna, but has not yet been published in a journal with a review by colleagues.
What is a normal erection duration?
"As long as it takes for both partners to be satisfied. The average is at least five minutes after penetration. If you're young and suffer from premature ejaculation, you can make up for it by having sex again, but it's more difficult for older people.
"The question that we ask the men is whether they can control their erection. Only 30% of men can really more or less control when they ejaculate. Incidentally, 3% control too much, meaning that it's difficult for them to achieve orgasm."
Is this drug suitable for everyone with premature ejaculation, for both psychological and physiological reasons?
"Science does not yet completely know why premature ejaculation occurs. For someone who feels that his premature ejaculation is caused by overexcitement, there psychological exercises that can be done, but when we administer the drug, we give him the endurance that he needs to practice the behavioral methods. The behavioral methods also prevent him from getting carried away during sex, because he's constantly thinking. We want to relieve you of this burden. In principle, you can take the drug during an entire lifetime."
I usually ask women this question, but the situation this time is the opposite. Is it right to expect men to take a drug for extending the duration of their erection just because their partners expect it?
Dray: "We say that the problem of premature ejaculation is a problem in the West - a problem of men who care about women."
Goren: "In places where women's status is low, men do not strive so much to satisfy the woman. The legal wives only want children and for the man to finish quickly. In countries in which women choose their partners and enjoy prolonged sex, and perhaps also experience several partners before making their choice, there is competition."
Dray: "We say that this is actually a drug for women and for smart men."
And also for the gay community.
Goren: "In both fashion and sexual function, gays adopt innovations and straight people follow them. That's what happened with penis enlargement."
A bigger market than for Viagra
Drai says that the market for treatment of premature ejaculation is even large than the market for Viagra, but that people started talking more about erection disfunction when it was learned that there was a fairly simple and accessible solution, while there is no successful solution today for premature ejaculation, so there is no point in talking about it. At the same time, he says that there is great potential.
"We are finally connecting sex and money," say Drai. There has been no reason to pity him. In his prosperous clinic, he offers luxury private treatment, among other things with injections of Hyaluronic acid to enlarge the penis. He was previously accused of tax evasion in his clinical activity. The couple say, "This is a Kafkaesque story. We hope that the affair ends soon in agreements between us and the state."
Today, following the trial, which Drai financed with his own money and with the help of a grant from the University of Vienna, he is looking for financing for his company, or cooperation with a drug company that will take the product further.
You are not being pursued by venture capital funds?
"No, they say, 'This isn't a life-saving product. It's nice.' But I say that it's a market with money. We're planning to make a lot of money. Once we finish with this product, we'll start solving women's problems."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on January 8, 2020
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