IN THE Woody Allen film Play It Again, Sam, the technique used was to think of the names of famous baseball stars, whereas some sexologists recommend the more mechanical “stop, start, squeeze” method.

Now scientists may have come up with the first pharmaceutical means of tackling premature ejaculation — using a class of drug usually associated with treating depression.

In trials involving 2,600 men, researchers in the US have shown that a new drug could prolong sexual intercourse by more than three times the duration previously experienced.

If approved after more tests, the drug will be the first designed to tackle the problem, which is experienced by 20-30 per cent of men.

Participants in the trial typically concluded intercourse in less than a minute. Speed may be desirable in a racing pigeon or a sports car, but in sex the laurels tend to be won by the slow.

A “normal” time between penetration and climax, the drug manufacturers Johnson & Johnson discovered, with the aid of obliging couples and a stopwatch, is 7.3 minutes.

Men on anti-depressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — SSRIs, the class to which Prozac and Seroxat belong — typically complain of dulled sexual sensation and delayed orgasm. But what is a curse for them may be a benefit for others, so Johnson & Johnson set out to develop an SSRI specifically for delaying orgasms.

Today The Lancet publishes the results of trials carried out at 121 centres in the United States. Men were randomly given either placebos or different doses of dapoxetine. As is typical in sexual studies, the placebo proved pretty effective, prolonging intercourse from less than one minute to 1.75 minutes. But the drug did better. A 30mg dose produced 2.78 minutes and a 60mg dose 3.32 minutes. While hardly Don Juan standard, this was a significent result, marred only by some side-effects. Nausea, diarrhoea, headache and dizziness were reported.

Nevertheless, the team, led by Professor Jon Pryor, of the University of Minnesota, concluded that dapoxetine was “an effective and generally well- tolerated treatment for men with moderate-to-severe premature ejaculation”.

During the trial, which lasted twelve weeks, couples were asked to attempt intercourse six times or more per month. The tablets were to be taken between one and three hours before starting intercourse, and the time to ejaculation and any side-effects were to be noted in a logbook.

“Dapoxetine also improved patients’ perception of control over ejaculation, satisfaction with sexual intercourse and overall impression of change in condition,” the team noted. “Partners benefited through improved satisfaction with sexual intercourse.”

Dapoxetine, although an SSRI, is not designed to ease depression, though that may be a useful side-effect in some cases. It takes only an hour to achieve maximum concentration in the blood and is virtually eliminated from the body within 24 hours.

Dapoxetine is made by Alza Corp, of Mountain View, California, a wholly owned subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Given the prevalence of premature ejaculation, it could become a money-spinner. If so, it will eliminate an opportunity for perfect sexual manners of the kind exhibited by caring women. “It’s not that you’re too fast, but that I’m too slow,” may be a lie, but it has consoled many a despairing man.

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