Some accidental discoveries save lives; one sparked a sexual health revolution.
Originally intended to treat angina pectoris – chest pain caused by a narrowing of the vessels supplying the heart – drug UK-92480 proved a bit of a flop in its early trials. Yes, it went some way to expanding the blood vessels in healthy volunteers, enabling more oxygenated blood to flow around the circulatory systems, but it didn’t stay in the body long and caused muscle aches in some.
What prolonged the trials – and more – were the drug’s unexpected side effects. First one volunteer then another started reporting that this latest wonder drug did indeed work wonders, but elsewhere, below-the-belt.
Further and bigger trials confirmed these unlooked-for benefits, a patent was issued and in 1998, just six years after the first synthesis of UK-92480, the drug was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in erectile dysfunction.
We’re talking of course about Viagra. Variously known as ‘vitamin V’, ‘the little blue pill’ and the ‘Pfizer riser’, sildenafil citrate to give it its scientific name became the fastest selling drug of all time. Initially prescribed at the rate of more than 10,000 a day at its launch in America and used by 30 million men in 120 countries in its first decade, Viagra remains one of the most prescribed drugs in the world.
As to how many other little accidents this particular one has spawned, no one’s keeping count.
