Introduction. The process of erection occurs through the coordination of several pathways. Therefore, any negative conditions and risk factors will make worse the quality of erection and can cause erectile dysfunction (ED). One of these conditions is metabolic syndrome.

Aim. To evaluate the data published over the past 20 years on the prevalence, causes and risk factors, as well as conservative therapy for erectile dysfunction.

Materials and methods. The search results in scientific database PubMed for the queries «physiology of erection», «erectile dysfunction», «risk factors for erectile dysfunction», «treatment of erectile dysfunction». Found 574 materials, 60 articles have been selected for writing a review of.

Results. The global prevalence of ED varies greatly, ranging from 3% to 76.5%. However, ED was associated with increasing age. Among the main risk factors for ED are arterial hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus. Now, conservative therapy for ED is aimed at treating individual risk factors and is often unable to have a complex effect on all factors at once, which leads to the need to combine medications.

Conclusions. Since conservative therapy ED cannot be directed at all etiological aspects of this pathology at the same time, a combined drug "EDELIM" was developed by SH Pharma. It is a metabolic therapy for ED that addresses the underlying causes of erectile dysfunction and protects the endothelial cells of the corpora cavernosa.