Peyronie's disease - the disease we never knew existed until there was a cure for it. TV commercials about the condition ask cryptically "Are you curved below the belt?". It took me a minute to figure that one out! In fact, Peyronie's disease is a relatively rare condition in which scar tissue in the penis causes marked curvature of the penis during an erection, leading to painful erections and problems having sex. What causes the scar tissue to develop is generally unknown, although prior physical injury is suspected in many cases.
In December the FDA approved the first non-surgical treatment for Peyronies's disease after reviewing the results of two studies. Shortly thereafter the company producing the treatment, Endo Pharmaceuticals, launched an aggressive disease awareness and product marketing campaign. And why not? There's a lot of money to be made. Treatment will cost $26,000 in addition to the doctor's fees. Treatment involves 8 injections into the penis six weeks apart of Xiaflex, a collagenase derived from the bacterium that causes gangrene.
Endo Pharmaceuticals says that "3-9% of adult males worldwide are estimated to have Peyronie's disease", but no evidence is presented to back that up. Estimated by whom? Sigh. For now we'll just have to put up with those annoying ads.
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