The only pill developed specifically for premature ejaculation, taken one to three hours before sex. In trials it took men from under a minute to about three. It’s prescription-only, approved in many countries but not in the US.
Dapoxetine comes up in a lot of searches, often with “where can I get it”. Here’s what it is, from the research. I’m not a doctor, and this isn’t advice to take it.
What it is
Dapoxetine, sold as Priligy, is an antidepressant of the SSRI family, but built differently: it acts fast and leaves the body quickly. That’s why it’s taken on demand, about one to three hours before sex, instead of every day. It’s the only pill developed and approved specifically for premature ejaculation, in many countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America. It has never been approved in the United States.
What it does
In five large trials involving more than 6,000 men, the average time to ejaculation went from about 0.9 minutes to about 3.1 minutes with the lower dose and 3.6 minutes with the higher one, against 1.9 minutes with a placebo. So it helps, but it’s a gain of a couple of minutes, not a transformation, and it only works on the days you take it.
Side effects and precautions
The most common side effects in the trials were nausea, dizziness and headache. The official prescribing information also warns about fainting, sometimes announced by nausea or light-headedness, and asks doctors to check for blood pressure drops on standing before prescribing. It shouldn’t be mixed with alcohol, and it interacts with several other medicines.
That’s why it’s prescription-only, and why buying it from a random website is a bad idea: you don’t know what you’re getting, and nobody has checked whether it’s safe for you.
Is it safe to buy dapoxetine online?
From a random website, no. The US Food and Drug Administration warns that counterfeit medicines may contain the wrong ingredients, too much, too little or no active ingredient at all, or other harmful substances. It also lists buying from an online pharmacy among the signs of a possible counterfeit. Dapoxetine isn’t approved in the United States, so anything sold there under that name isn’t a checked product.
And even a genuine pill is only safe if someone has checked that it suits you: your blood pressure, the other medicines you take, your heart. Where it’s approved, the safe route is a doctor’s prescription and a licensed pharmacy, including online ones that ask for that prescription.
My take
If a doctor thinks it suits you, it can take the pressure off while you work on the rest. For the bigger picture, see whether premature ejaculation pills work.
Sources
- Counterfeit Medicine, US Food and Drug Administration
- Efficacy and Safety of Dapoxetine for the Treatment of Premature Ejaculation: Integrated Analysis of Results from Five Phase 3 Trials, McMahon et al., Journal of Sexual Medicine, 2011
- Priligy: summary of product characteristics, Swedish Medical Products Agency
- Disorders of Ejaculation: AUA/SMSNA Guideline, American Urological Association, 2020
The whole theme in one read: Premature ejaculation treatments: what works and what doesn’t