CLINICAL-TRIALS AND HUMAN-SEXUALITY - BASIC CONCEPTS AND PROBLEMS

In considering the evaluation of pharmacological agents in the treatme nt of sexual dysfunction, four fundamental issues are discussed in thi s paper: (1) most pharmacological agents which have been used for this purpose act on neurotransmitter systems which are not specific to sex ual response; (2) even when a sexually relevant pharmacological effect can be assumed, its effect on sexual behavior will be modulated by in formation processing; (3) the first attempts to evaluate the agent sho uld focus on direct effects on the individual receiving the drug; and (4) evaluation of the relevance of the direct pharmacological effect o n the well-being of a sexual relationship requires control of the cons iderable variance which exists in the capacity for change in sexual re lationships.