VIAGRA: CURE OR CURSE?
As Britain is the first country to make Viagra available over the counter, JOHN NAISH on the wonder sex drug
HOW IT WAS DISCOVEREDIT WAS DISCOVERED . . . BY ACCIDENT
Scientists at the pharmaceutical company Pfizer discovered the powers of Viagra (sildenafil citrate) by accident in the early nineties during trials of a potential new angina drug named UK-92480.
Angina is a condition in which the vessels that supply the heart with blood constrict, triggering chest pain and breathlessness.
UK-92480 was found to do little to relieve pain, and Pfizer was on the verge of abandoning the drug when reports began to show a distinctive pattern; many male trial volunteers were experiencing an unusual side- side effect . . . erections. Rather than dilating their coronary blood vessels as hoped, the blood vessels of their penises became dilated instead.
Senior Pfizer scientist chris Wayman investigated what was happening by testing the drug on penile tissue samples from impotent men. the effect was dramatic.
U.S. regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, approved Viagra in 1998. Before this there was no oral treatment for erectile dysfunction; the only options were an injection or a prosthetic implant.
Viagra is thought to be effective for up to six hours, and while it does not stimulate desire, it does help a man to establish and maintain an erection if he feels aroused aroused. Viagra’s subse subsequent success is the stuff of pharmaceutical legend. Pfizer continues to make Viagra at its plant in a small village called Ringaskiddy in county cork — dubbed ‘Viagra Falls’ by locals, who also claim to enjoy amazing sex lives because of the Viagra ‘in the air’.
30 MILLION MEN WHO GOT IT ON PRESCRIPTION
in itS first ten years alone, nearly 30 million men worldwide were prescribed Viagra with sales of more than £1 billion. in Britain, prescriptions for Viagra (and other erectile dysfunction drugs) have nearly tripled in the past decade.
nHS figures show there were some three million prescriptions in 2016 (at a cost of £47 million), compared with just over a million in 2006. Between 2014-2015, prescription numbers rose by 43 per cent and by 16 per cent between 2015 and 2016.
the Royal college of General Practitioners (RcGP) attributes the sharp rise to growing awareness of erectile dysfunction and its treatment, and an ageing population who expect a good sex life.
According to nHS data, men in Bradford are the most likely in the england to be prescribed Viagra (or similar drugs), at twice the national rate, with Blackpool second and South Lincolnshire third.
there seems to be a north-South divide, with the lowest prescription rates in east Surrey, Richmond and Kingston upon thames.
BRICK DUST IN COUNTERFEITS
Doctors are concerned that men are buying Viagra-type drugs online, putting themselves in peril from counterfeit chemicals.
Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, the chair of the Royal college of General Practitioners says buying Viagra and similar drugs online exposes men to a ‘powerful drug that could have potentially unpleasant sideeffects, and serious interactions with other medication’.
Some £50 million of unlicensed and counterfeit erectile dysfunction drugs have been seized since 2012.
Analysis of these pills has found them to contain everything from gypsum (used to make plaster of Paris) to printer ink, brick dust and even arsenic. they are often manufactured by criminal gangs who see the potential of increased demand.
officials from the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) say that in 2015, more than 90 per cent of all illegal unlicensed medication seized was for erectile problems, much of it sold via foreign-based internet sites.
TAKEN TO COUNTER EFFECTS OF DRINK
Doctors say there is a growing trend for younger men using Viagra and similar drugs.
they may want to improve sexual performance or take it to counter the use of other recreational drugs and alcohol which make it harder to get an erection. Seth Rankin, an Nhs GP and chief executive of the London Doctors clinic, a private chain of GP surgeries, says many twentysomethings take Viagra-type drugs because they watch a lot of pornography and feel pressure to perform. in 2012, writer James Andrews, 24, from north London, killed himself after apparently lying to his girlfriend, a dancer with the english national Ballet, about his use of Viagra (athough it was not explained why the drug was an issue for the couple).
USERS WHO DOUBT THEIR VIRILITY
Long-term studies suggest that Viagra and similar drugs don’t have any serious side-effects. A Swedish study published earlier this year found that people who have had heart attacks seem to enjoy a lower long-term risk of heart attacks if they use erectile dysfunction drugs regularly.
However, young men who use Viagra as a lifestyle drug can harm their potency, because they begin to doubt their virility without it, and develop a psychological dependency on it.
According to the Journal of Sexual Medicine, a 2012 study found that nearly six per cent of sexually active college students reported taking drugs for erectile dysfunction without a medical need.
Further analysis of their sex lives found that, paradoxically, the more Viagra-type drugs men took, the lower their sexual confidence.
PRICE SLASHED FROM £20 TO £1.45
in 2013, Pfizer’s exclusive 15-year patent on Viagra ran out, enabling
cheaper, generic ‘sildenafil’ drugs to come on to the market.
This prompted an 86 per cent drop in the price of the pills — and enabled NHS doctors to prescribe far more within their budgets.
For example, the number of men in North Wales receiving the pills has risen by 60 per cent since 2013, which NHS officials attribute to the plummeting cost. The price, once around £20 for four pills, is now as low as £1.45.
This month, the price of another drug to treat erectile dysfunction, Cialis — which lasts up to six times longer than Viagra — was slashed by up to 50 per cent (from £7.22 per tablet to £2-4) after the brand’s patent expired.
It may now become available on NHS prescription.
SEARCH FOR A FEMALE VERSION
OVER the years, there have been many attempts to create a ‘pink Viagra’ to boost women’s sex drives — not least because of the promise of sure-fire profits for pharmaceutical companies.
However, all attempts have failed. Scientists believe that the main reason for this is that a woman’s main sex organ is ‘between her ears rather than between the thighs’, as is the case for men.
One drug company tried to solve this by marketing a drug called Addyi to treat low female libido.
It boosts bloodflow to the pelvic region and also acts on the brain, raising levels of ‘feelgood’ chemicals such as serotonin and dopamine.
The theory is that women’s brains will experience more pleasure during sex, and that the raised levels of ‘feelgood’ chemicals reinforce pleasurable memories of the encounter.
However, Addyi can also cause sleepiness, sudden drops in blood pressure and fainting, especially when it is combined with alcohol. Since it became available in 2015 in the U.S., sales have been woeful.