Description
Cialis is a long-lasting PDE5 inhibitor, approved by the FDA in 2003. Like other PDE5 inhibitors, it works by increasing blood flow to the penis and dilating blood vessels in the lungs. Relative to other PDE5 inhibitors, however, it has an overall more specific effect, not inhibiting PDE1 or PDE6 so much, making it free of certain potential side effects such as vision changes, flushing, and heart palpitations.
It does inhibit PDE11 more than other PDE5 inhibitors, but the effects of PDE11 inhibition are not known, and no deleterious effects in the tissues where PDE11 is expressed (skeletal muscle, the prostate, liver, kidneys, pituitary gland, and testes) have been observed in any clinical data or anecdotal evidence that I’ve seen. You can have reasonable confidence that this “side-effect” PDE11 inhibition isn’t worthy of much consideration, unlike the significant PDE1 and PDE6 inhibition observable with other PDE5 inhibitors. Simply put: Not only does Cialis have the longest half-life among its peers, but it has the least side effects too.
