Posted at 7:00 am
March 27, 1998
Originally developed to treat high blood pressure and angina pectoris, the pill that made it famous by Pfizer was pure coincidence. The researchers have actually realized that their molecule (sildenafil citrate) ultimately does not increase blood flow to the heart as hoped, but elsewhere… Unexpectedly, you say?
37 million men
The discovery immediately arouses enthusiasm. Knowing that there was no way to treat erectile dysfunction back then (other than painful or humiliating treatments, think urethral injections and suppositories), we can better gauge the excitement. For the first few days after launch, doctors write up to 10,000 prescriptions a day, according to a Time article of the year (1998). More than 150,000 prescriptions are filled in the United States in the first two weeks after launch. Between 1998 and 2013 (and the introduction of generic pills), an estimated 37 million men used Viagra.
Source: Challenges magazine
Liberation?
According to Penthouse magazine founder and editor Bob Guccione, Viagra was meant to “unleash men’s libido” and, most importantly, pull the rug out from under feminists, who he says are responsible for “emasculating the American man” too much to put pressure on men.
Source: Time magazine, 2018
1 of 3
This is the proportion of men over 40 who have experienced “male impotence” at some point. Even if the statistics vary greatly from study to study, only one thing remains: the percentages increase with age.
Source: European Urology, 2002
27 minutes
This is the average time it takes for the pill to work, for an average duration of four or five hours. Note that the pill does not act on cravings, which (in addition to some form of stimulation or another) is also essential for the magic, as they say, to work.
The most famous but also the most faked
In 2021, US Customs seized $16.3 million worth of counterfeit little blue pills. Almost ubiquitous fakes on the Internet, authorities warn. A fake that is not from yesterday. As early as 25 years ago, shortly after Viagra was launched, fakes designed in Thailand and India were sold at high prices on the Internet. To distinguish them, it is recommended to pay attention to the blue of the pill, the f of the Pfizer, the diamond shape, etc. Be that as it may, the experts agree: online, there is a high risk that the pills are counterfeit.
Source: drugs.com
Alternate Uses
Initially aimed at generally older men struggling with erectile dysfunction, so-called “recreational” use of Viagra quickly becomes popular. A year after its commercialization, we can already see its popularity among young partygoers, a phenomenon that still worries the medical authorities to this day. As early as 2012, an American study estimated that 8% of young people use Viagra and other similar drugs to calm down in their sexual performance.
Source: Agence France-Presse
Driven
The news was little publicized, and yet: Last year, a study conducted by British Columbia researchers and published in the medical journal Jama Ophthalmology showed that Viagra subscribers had up to an 85% higher risk of developing eye problems like retinal detachment develop. the pill affects blood flow to the eyes. This is the first time a major epidemiological study has come to such a link.
Unpublished usage
Israeli and Australian researchers have found that a small concentration of Viagra added to your cut flower water can double the life of your bouquets. It cannot be invented, and it has even been demonstrated.
Source: British Medical Journal
petition
In 2020, a man from La Prairie filed a petition in the National Assembly demanding reimbursement of the blue pill by the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec. You should know that Viagra is always on a short exclusion list, as are medications prescribed for cosmetic purposes or to treat hair loss. Since then, the file has been “examined”.
Viagra embodies the beginning of the commercialization of erectile dysfunction. […] A marketing measure […] that promises a quick fix [quick fix] to a problem […] which may or may not clarify everything, since it is not about the body as a whole, the relationship as a whole, nor a critical examination of the social ideals surrounding masculinity and sexuality. In other words, “A hard penis isn’t always the best solution to a relationship problem or a self-esteem problem.”
Meika Loe, Professor of Sociology at Colgate University in New York and author of Rise of Viagra: How the Little Blue Pill Changed Sex in America, New York University Press, 2004.
And female Viagra, in all this?
The news is not great on this site. In 2015, American authorities approved Addyi, a drug designed to help fight the decline in cravings in women, renamed “Women’s Viagra.” The news caused a stir and sparked as much debate as hope. It must be said that sales have never decreased. Its limited effectiveness and its many side effects, not to mention all of its contraindications, are certainly not unrelated. New tile: Last year, a Quebec pharmaceutical company (Endoceutics) to whom we owe a vaginal egg (Intrarosa), believed to be a type of female Viagra used to treat vaginal atrophy associated with menopause, filed for bankruptcy.