Are the Medications I Am Taking For Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Going to Kill Me?
Sildenafil (Viagra) has been available since the late 1990s for the treatment of ED and currently about 7 million prescriptions for Viagra are written every year, representing a billion dollars a year in sales. Like a lot of drugs, this one’s journey to the pharmacist’s shelf began in a quest to treat a different condition, in this case angina (heart disease). During trial studies researchers noticed that it had a positive effect on erection, which turned out to be stimulating news for Pfizer. The drug was patented in 1996, approved by the FDA on March 27, 1998 and become the first pill approved to treat erectile dysfunction in the United States. Viagra works because it inhibits the cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) enzyme, which results in an increase in blood flow in the corpus callosum of the penis, resulting in erection. Viagra has its peak effect in one hour and lasts about four hours. Viagra has been shown to be highly effective for ED.
