Expert discusses future directions in Peyronie disease

Author(s):

Key Takeaways

Kiwi extract, a natural collagenase, offers a medium-effect therapy with fewer side effects compared to Xiaflex.
Peptides show potential as collagenase agents, but their safety profile is currently limited.
Other modalities like CO2 gas, lasers, and topicals are being explored, though their success is uncertain.
Optimizing Xiaflex remains crucial for improving treatment outcomes while awaiting new therapeutic developments.

"There's something coming out of Canada. It's a kiwi extract, which is a natural collagenase that comes from kiwi," says Landon Trost, MD.

In this video from the 2024 Sexual Medicine Society of North America Fall Scientific Meeting, Landon Trost, MD, discusses promising research directions in Peyronie disease. Trost is the founder and director of the Male Fertility and Peyronie’s Clinic in Orem, Utah.

Transcription:

What are the most promising emerging therapies or research areas in the field of Peyronie disease treatment? Are there any experimental or investigational approaches that show particular promise?

There are multiple right now that are kind of undergoing those initial stages. There are none that are in the final stages of release, so I think we're probably realistically looking 5 to 10 years before we get anything new. The things I think that are promising, though, there's something coming out of Canada. It's a kiwi extract, which is a natural collagenase that comes from kiwi. And the researchers and teams there are starting to extract it more, to purify it, and to do some of the basic science studies that you need to do. That'll be nice, I think, because it probably will give kind of a medium type therapy, whereas you have Xiaflex, which is going to be more effective, but probably have side effects, and then you'll have something like this, which is going to be a little less effective, but also [with] fewer side effects.

Otherwise, people are looking at peptides. It's kind of a popular term right now in a lot of areas of medicine. Peptides often are very good as a collagenase as well, but the safety profile of these drugs is very limited right now. We don't have much information in that regard, so I do think that will be on the horizon the next little while. There are multiple other modalities out there that people are looking at, everything from CO₂ gas to lasers to topicals to all these things. And I personally don't think those will have much chance of making it through the safety and efficacy set of hurdles, but there are things on the horizon for sure, and as we mentioned earlier, just the optimization of Xiaflex, I think goes a very long ways, because you get a new drug, but it takes a while until you're getting the best of what you can get out of it.

This transcript was AI generated and edited by human editors for clarity.