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Protein / target

cGMP-specific 3',5'-cyclic phosphodiesterase

Encoded byPDE5AO76074Homo sapiensSwiss-Prot
Clinically validated
Therapeutic maturity
10
Approved medicines
Open Targets target-level
View by indication →
30
Clinical trials
Small-molecule tractable
Druggability
Approved Drug

Protein at a glance

Biological role

3',5'-cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase

Strongest disease association

Coronary Artery Disease

Via encoding gene PDE5A · Genetic evidence · score 0.71

Therapeutic position

Established drug target

Small molecules

Derived from structured UniProt, Open Targets and literature data on this page.

Protein profile

UniProt 2026_02

Canonical identity and biological annotation from UniProt.

Function overview

Plays a role in signal transduction by regulating the intracellular concentration of cyclic nucleotides.

View complete UniProt function annotation

Plays a role in signal transduction by regulating the intracellular concentration of cyclic nucleotides. This phosphodiesterase catalyzes the specific hydrolysis of cGMP to 5'-GMP (PubMed:15489334, PubMed:9714779). Specifically regulates nitric-oxide-generated cGMP (PubMed:15489334)

Domains and Gene Ontology detail (12)

Domains & features

GAF 1GAF 2PDEase

Gene Ontology

  • Ccytosol
  • F3',5'-cyclic-AMP phosphodiesterase activity
  • F3',5'-cyclic-GMP phosphodiesterase activity
  • F3',5'-cyclic-nucleotide phosphodiesterase activity
  • FcGMP binding
  • Fmetal ion binding
  • PcGMP catabolic process
  • Pnegative regulation of cAMP/PKA signal transduction
  • Psignal transduction

875 aa · 100 kDa · 2 isoforms

Approved medicines with mapped indications

2 medicines · 2 areas

Approved therapies targeting this protein, grouped by what they are approved to treat — the disease-first view of the medicines below. Relationships come from the canonical approved-indication graph (ChEMBL phase-4), the same source as the drug cards.

Erectile Dysfunction2 medicines
Hypertension, Pulmonary1 medicine

10 medicines meet Open Targets' target-level approved-medicine definition; the 2 shown here are those on this page with a canonical approved disease indication in the graph. Approved indications from ChEMBL (phase-4), via the canonical drug→disease graph.

Drugs targeting this protein

2

How approved and investigational drugs engage this protein — mechanism and action type, direct vs complex targeting, and how broadly each acts across other targets. A drug-first view (the section above groups the approved ones disease-first); direct binders with few recorded targets are listed first.

tadalafil
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Phosphodiesterase 5A inhibitor

Indicated for Erectile Dysfunction, Hypertension, Pulmonary

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

avanafil
Narrow target profileApprovedInhibitor

Phosphodiesterase 5A inhibitor

Indicated for Erectile Dysfunction

Direct interaction with this protein · Only this protein recorded as a target

ChEMBL mechanism, action type, target identity and approved indications. Open Targets clinical status.

Translational evidence

Open Targets 26

Why this target matters therapeutically, strongest evidence first. Disease associations are gene-level (via the gene that encodes this protein) and open into the full confidence synthesis; the development universe, tractability and safety annotations are target-level, from Open Targets.

Strongest disease associations · via encoding gene PDE5A

Gene-level evidence surfaced through the gene PDE5Athat encodes this protein — not a direct protein–disease relationship. Ranked by Forefront's causal-directness weighting, so genetically- and clinically-evidenced diseases lead over ones that merely share the literature.

Coronary Artery Disease
0.92Well supported

Genetic evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.66

Erectile Dysfunction
0.76Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.61

Pulmonary arterial hypertension
0.75Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.61

Benign prostatic hyperplasia
0.75Well supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.61

Hypertension, Pulmonary
0.74Moderately supported

Clinical evidence dominant · Open Targets 0.60

View evidence synthesis (5)
Coronary Artery DiseaseWell supported
0.92
agreement 0.811.00
Genetic48%Clinical45%Literature7%

Open Targets aggregate 0.66 · 3 independent evidence families

Erectile DysfunctionWell supported
0.76
agreement 0.600.91
Clinical95%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 2 independent evidence families

Pulmonary arterial hypertensionWell supported
0.75
agreement 0.600.91
Clinical90%Literature10%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 2 independent evidence families

Benign prostatic hyperplasiaWell supported
0.75
agreement 0.600.91
Clinical89%Literature11%

Open Targets aggregate 0.61 · 2 independent evidence families

Hypertension, PulmonaryModerately supported
0.74
agreement 0.580.89
Clinical95%Literature5%

Open Targets aggregate 0.60 · 2 independent evidence families

The evidence agreement range shows how closely the independent evidence families agree — it is not a statistical confidence interval, and nothing here is fitted to outcome data. Derived from Open Targets evidence types under Forefront weighting; the per-type scores above show the calculation.

Show all associations
Coronary Artery Disease0.66
Erectile Dysfunction0.61
Pulmonary arterial hypertension0.61
Benign prostatic hyperplasia0.61
Hypertension, Pulmonary0.60
Stroke0.53
Cardiovascular Diseases0.49
Heart Failure0.41

Drug development

13 compounds recorded · 10 approved · 3 in clinical development

Open Targets' development universe — every compound recorded against the target at any stage, not all approved medicines. Distinct from the 2 drugs that target this protein in Forefront's canonical graph (2 with a mapped approved indication, shown above): these count different sets and are not a subset relation.

View all recorded compounds (10)
SILDENAFIL CITRATEApproval
SILDENAFILApproval
AVANAFILApproval
GISADENAFILPhase 2
PF-00489791Phase 2
UDENAFILApproval
DIPYRIDAMOLEApproval
VARDENAFIL HYDROCHLORIDEApproval
IBUDILASTApproval
VARDENAFILApproval

Open Targets known-drugs universe. Drug name and highest clinical stage only — the disease relationship is NOT read from this slice (it carries trial-context noise); approved indications come from the canonical graph above.

Tractability

Small moleculesStrong

Approved Drug and Structure with Ligand support this modality.

Protein degradersEmerging

Feasibility evidence (database ubiquitination and small molecule binder) — no clinical-stage drug of this modality recorded.

View underlying tractability evidence (7)
SM · Approved DrugSM · Structure with LigandSM · High-Quality LigandSM · High-Quality PocketSM · Druggable FamilyPR · Database UbiquitinationPR · Small Molecule Binder

Raw Open Targets tractability assessment buckets, by modality.

Safety-related annotations

regulation of catalytic activityToxCast

Terms indexed against this target in Open Targets' safety data, with their datasource. These are annotations, not causal claims: the direction of effect (whether activation or inhibition is implicated), species and evidence strength are not captured here, so an entry does not mean that modulating this target is known to cause that condition.

Clinical trials

30

Trials of drugs that target this protein — reached indirectly through those drugs, so a trial listed here studies the drug, not the protein. Ranked by active status, then clinical phase and recency, and spread across the targeting drugs.

View all trials (26)

ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING · via tadalafil · NCT05195775

ClinicalTrials.gov via the drug-target graph.

What's happening now

12

Recent therapeutic activity around this target — regulatory actions, clinical trials and safety signals for 2 drugs that target this protein, plus publications where such a drug is a genuine subject. Every item is reached indirectly through the drug, not the protein itself; incidental mentions (a paper that merely measures a drug) and press items are excluded.

  1. Regulatory approval2026-08-17

    Approval: TADALAFIL (ANDA210592)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via tadalafil

  2. Regulatory approval2024-08-13

    Approval: TADALAFIL (ANDA217606)

    fda · regulatory · fda · via tadalafil

  3. Regulatory approval2017-03-22

    Approval: Tadalafil Lilly (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via tadalafil

  4. Regulatory approval2017-01-09

    Approval: Talmanco (previously Tadalafil Generics) (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via tadalafil

  5. New publication2015-01-01
    Tadalafil augments tumor specific immunity in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2015 · 160 citations · Europe PMC · via tadalafil

  6. Regulatory approval2014-11-21

    Approval: Tadalafil Mylan (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via tadalafil

  7. New publication2014-10-15
    Tadalafil reduces myeloid-derived suppressor cells and regulatory T cells and promotes tumor immunity in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

    Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2015 · 214 citations · Europe PMC · via tadalafil

  8. Regulatory approval2013-06-21

    Approval: Spedra (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via avanafil

  9. New publication2012-07-12
    Effects of once-daily tadalafil on treatment satisfaction, psychosocial outcomes, spontaneous erections, and measures of endothelial function in men with erectile dysfunction but naive to phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors.

    Journal of andrology · 2012 · 16 citations · Europe PMC · via tadalafil

  10. New publication2012-01-16
    A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled evaluation of the safety and efficacy of avanafil in subjects with erectile dysfunction.

    The journal of sexual medicine · 2012 · 61 citations · Europe PMC · via avanafil

  11. Regulatory approval2008-10-01

    Approval: Adcirca (previously Tadalafil Lilly) (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via tadalafil

  12. Regulatory approval2002-11-12

    Approval: Cialis (EMA)

    ema · regulatory · ema · via tadalafil

Objective event titles are shown unmodified; the event kind and significance line are derived from structured fields. Forefront AttentionEvent stream aggregating Europe PMC Regulatory filings ClinicalTrials.gov.