Can premature ejaculation spray rescue the sagging fortune of this Hong Kong firm and improve the sex lives of Asian men?
- Mining-turned-health care firm is banking on the prescription-only spray to boost its bottom line
- Its Hong Kong-traded shares have lost 44pc since it acquired developer of the spray
The company licensed Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical’s unit Wanbang Pharmaceutical last month to help it obtain approval and sell Fortacin, a prescription-only topical spray in mainland China. Separately, Regent licensed Taiwan-listed Orient EuroPharma to distribute the drug in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and six Southeast Asian markets.
“We hope our product will alleviate any distress [that accompanies] sexual dysfunction, and bring confidence back to the [sufferer] so that he can perform in line with the average male,” Regent’s chief executive officer Jamie Gibson said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
The approvals and licensing would offer an additional option to existing treatments to men who suffer from premature ejaculation, a form of sexual dysfunction that also includes impotence, which attracts more public attention due to the blockbuster drug Viagra approved for use two decades ago.
Premature ejaculation is not uncommon, afflicting between 25 per cent and up to 40 per cent of the world’s adult men, according to a 2006 paper by the International Journal of Impotence Research. As many as 140 million men in mainland China are estimated to suffer from impotence. An equal number of people may be afflicted with premature ejaculation, typically defined as the condition of less than one minute of ejaculatory latency time.
