Lodenafil is a drug belonging to a class of drugs called PDE5 inhibitor

PDE5 inhibitor

A phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitor, often shortened to PDE5 inhibitor, is a drug used to block the degradative action of phosphodiesterase type 5 on cyclic GMP in the smooth muscle cells lining the blood vessels supplying the corpus cavernosum of the penis...

, which many other erectile dysfunction drugs such as sildenafil

Sildenafil

Sildenafil citrate, sold as Viagra, Revatio and under various other trade names, is a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension . It was originally developed by British scientists and then brought to market by the US-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer...

, tadalafil

Tadalafil

Tadalafil is a PDE5 inhibitor, currently marketed in pill form for treating erectile dysfunction under the name Cialis; and under the name Adcirca for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension...

, and vardenafil

Vardenafil

Vardenafil is a PDE5 inhibitor used for treating erectile dysfunction that is sold under the trade names Levitra and Staxyn.-History:...

 also belong to. Like udenafil

Udenafil

Udenafil is a drug used in urology to treat erectile dysfunction. It belongs to a class of drugs called PDE5 inhibitor, which many other erectile dysfunction drugs such as sildenafil, tadalafil, and vardenafil also belong to. It was developed by Dong-A Pharmaceutical and is marketed under the trade...

 and avanafil

Avanafil

Avanafil is a PDE5 inhibitor being developed for erectile dysfunction. Avanafil currently has no trademarked term associated with it but it is being developed by Vivus Inc. It acts by inhibiting a specific phosphodiesterase type 5 enzyme which is found in various body tissues, but primarily in the...

 it belongs to a new generation of PDE5 inhibitors.

Lodenafil is formulated as a dimer, lodenafil carbonate, which breaks down in the body to form two molecules of the active drug lodenafil. This formulation has higher oral bioavailability

Bioavailability

In pharmacology, bioavailability is a subcategory of absorption and is used to describe the fraction of an administered dose of unchanged drug that reaches the systemic circulation, one of the principal pharmacokinetic properties of drugs. By definition, when a medication is administered...

 than the parent drug.

It is manufactured by Cristália Produtos Químicos e Farmacêuticos in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 and sold there under the brand-name Helleva .

It has undergone Phase III clinical trials, but is not yet approved for use in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.