Viagra, the little blue pill that can, turns 15

This Wednesday is the 15th anniversary of the approval of 비아그라 판매  by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States (FDA, for its acronym in English) in that country. Viagra currently holds 45% of the sexual dysfunction drug market, with Cialis coming in second, according to research company  IMS Health .

How did a drug originally tested for treating heart problems end up on store shelves around the world? Let's take a look at the history of Viagra.

1989:  British Pfizer scientists Peter Dunn and Albert Wood create a drug called sildenafil citrate that they believe will be useful in treating high blood pressure and angina, a chest pain associated with coronary heart disease. The medicine is classified as UK-92480.

1991:  Physician Nicholas Terrett's surname is used in the British patent for sildenafil citrate, or Viagra, a heart drug. Terrett is considered to be the father of Viagra,  according to 비아그라 판매 .

Early 1990s:  Pfizer completes several trials on sildenafil citrate, and the results offer little hope for its use as a heart disease treatment. But volunteers in clinical trials report increased erections several days after taking a dose of the drug, according to researcher Ian Osterloh.

"Almost at the same time, other studies revealed more information about the biochemical pathway involved in the erection process," he  writes for the magazine  Cosmos . “This helped us understand how the drug might amplify the effects of sexual stimulation by opening up blood vessels in the penis. With UK-92480 unlikely to treat angina, we decided to do pilot studies in patients with erectile dysfunction.”

1996:  Pfizer patents sildenafil citrate in the United States.

March 1998:  The FDA approves the use of Viagra to treat erectile dysfunction. In the following weeks, pharmacists in the United States dispensed more than 40,000 Viagra prescriptions, according to expert estimates.

May 1998: TIME  magazine's cover story  ,  The Potency Pill ,  quotes Penthouse editor  Bob Guccione as saying he believes Viagra will "liberate the American male libido" from the emasculating actions of the drug. feminism. Feminists were not amused.

On  CNN's Larry King Live  , former US presidential candidate Bob Dole admits he was part of the experimental trials for Viagra, calling it "a great drug."

June 1998:  Newsweek  magazine  calls Viagra "the most popular new drug in history in most of the world." At the time, 비아그라 판매  is only legal in the United States, Brazil, Morocco and Mexico, but  Newsweek  reports an increase in black market sales in other countries.

December 1998:  The  Washington Post reports  that the CIA uses Viagra to win friends in Afghanistan. Although the CIA has a long history of buying information with money, the growing Taliban insurgency has spawned the use of new incentives and creative negotiation to win support in some of the country's most dangerous neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in those operations. ”.

July 25, 1999:  The popular television show  Sex and the City airs the episode  The Man, The Myth, The Viagra ,  in which Samantha's character dates an older man who use the little blue pills. In the following season, Samantha takes the little blue pill to enhance her sexual experiences.

2000:  Physician Sanjay Kaul presents research at the American College of Cardiology's 49th Annual Scientific Session suggesting that 522 patients died while taking Viagra in the first year the drug was on the market.

“Our data seem to suggest that there is a relatively high number of deaths and cardiovascular adverse events associated with the use of Viagra. I want to emphasize that we are in no way trying to imply a cause-and-effect relationship,  ” Kaul told  WebMD  at the time.

August 19, 2003:  The FDA approves vardenafil hydrochloride, sold only under the brand name Levitra, to treat erectile dysfunction in men.

November 21, 2003:  The FDA approves tadalafil, or Cialis, from pharmaceutical company Lilly USA, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. The side effects of Cialis are similar to those of Viagra, and men with heart problems or abnormal blood pressure are advised not to use it.

2010:  Actor Michael Douglas makes headlines by admitting in an interview published in  AARP magazine   that he uses erectile dysfunction drugs with his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones. “God bless her for liking older men,” he says. "There have been some wonderful improvements in recent years (Viagra, Cialis) that can make us all feel younger."

2011:  A federal judge extends Pfizer's patent for Viagra, keeping generic brands off the market until 2019,  according to  The Wall Street Journal .

April 2012:  The FDA approves a new erectile dysfunction drug called avanafil, to be sold under the brand name Stendra. Stendra is taken 30 minutes before sexual activity, according to a press release.