The discovery of the drug has contributed tremendously to better understand the male body.
Next year, Viagra (erectile dysfunction medication known to its commercials) will be 20 years old. It is an important age for any medicine; However, it is particularly significant due to the tremendous success it has had: to date, 63 million men (and counting) around the world have bought Viagra at some point, according to Quartz, which has represented Pfizer (a company that owns Viagra ) $ 1.4 billion annual earnings in North America alone.
However, the path to Viagra’s success was not as straightforward as would be believed. In fact, the researchers weren’t even trying to solve erectile dysfunction when they started testing Sildenafil Citrate, a compound synthesized by British researchers in 1980. Pfizer was simply trying to figure out how to dilate the heart’s blood vessels to treat another problem. middle-aged: pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure.
Sildenafil Citrate, a type of phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE-5) inhibitor, looked promising in that regard: as Quartz notes, Sildenafil Citrate worked quite well, with no side effects, in animal testing, which prompted Pfizer to start human testing. At the time, however, the researchers were unaware that Sildenafil Citrate did not work in humans the same way it did in animals. Sure, it dilated blood vessels, but not those housed next to the heart. Instead, Sildenafil Citrate appeared to affect the blood vessels supplying the penis, also known as the corpora cavernosa, according to reports from nurses who found patients lying on their stomachs, embarrassed at having erections.
The researchers later discovered that PDE-5 inhibitors littered a process they did not fully understand. When consumed prior to intercourse, the drug penetrated the muscle cells of the corpora cavernosa and blocked the cGMP enzyme, which prevents relaxation. PDE-5 inhibitors relaxed these cells, allowing blood to flow to the penis and helping men deal with impotence.
In hindsight, this is not so surprising. After all, an erection is caused by dilation of the blood vessels in the penis, allowing the penis to enlarge and get ready for intercourse. It might seem very basic; however, as researcher Ian Osterloh indicates, scientists were beginning to understand the biochemistry of the penis. In other words, Sildenafil Citrate could not have been predicted to cause accidental erections, because we didn’t really understand how erections worked, to begin with.
The drug, later registered under the name Viagra, was crucial to understanding how the penis gets hard enough to have sex. If viagra hadn’t had the unexpected side effect of embarrassing men who were trying to fight their blood pressure issues, erections would remain a mystery to modern men.
Although there are other medications to treat erectile dysfunction on the market, such as Cialis, none have managed to incorporate the secret formula of Sildenafil Citrate. In 2020, however, Pfizer will lose the Viagra patent, ending a furious scientific research race on penises and pharmaceutical advancements in general. But, without the leadership of Viagra, we would never have fully understood how the penis works or how to treat impotence in younger men.