ONCE the formal questionnaires are complete, there’s an open inquiry at the end of almost any clinical trial. A variation on: “Apart from the answers you’ve given, did you notice anything else worthy of mention?” Often the question is met with a blank.
But in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil in 1993, the former miners testing a potential new drug for angina and hypertension did feel moved to speak up. One man raised his hand.
“I seemed to have a lot more erections during the night than normal,” he said with admirable candour.
The others smiled and, one by one, said, “So did I.”
It’s not known what would have happened if that first brave man hadn’t piped up. Dr David Brown has a pretty good idea, though. “Well, Viagra wouldn’t have been invented, basically.”
The story of the drug sildenafil, later sold as Viagra (among other things) and marketed, ingeniously, as simply “the little blue pill”, is one of happen stance and determination – with a hefty dose of unexpected charm. Plenty of medicines can claim to have changed the world, but 30 years after its invention and 25 years after it was first sold, few have made the cultural impact of Viagra.
Fewer are still so widely taken yet so seldom openly discussed. That the invention of this magic pill for impotence was an accident – a phenomenally happy one, not just for the millions of men who needed it, and their partners, but also for the profit margins of Pfizer, the company that created it – is part of its mythology.
This story is from the 8 February 2024 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the 8 February 2024 edition of YOU South Africa.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Our top picks to listen to and watch
The HOTTEST things in POP CULTURE and ENTERTAINMENT THIS WEEK
QUEEN OF THE COURT
She's just won her fifth Grand Slam title and at 23 tennis star Iga Świątek is only getting started!
WE'RE ON A MISSION TO HELP
The Olifants have started an ambulance service for animals from less fortunate communities
BARBER TO THE BOKS
He's been cutting hair for almost 50 years. But it's the more than 40 jackets and signed jerseys from Springbok players whose hair he's done that make him a cut above the rest
THE SCIENCE OF DEATH
New research into the dying brain suggests the line between life and death may be far less distinct than previously thought
WE TALK ABOUT Colombia's underwater treasure quest
COLOMBIA is launching a historic underwater expedition to explore a ship that sank in the Caribbean more than 300 years ago.
UNFORGETTABLE READS
These new releases all offer something surprising and unexpected
EAT YOUR FILL
Trying to lose weight? Stock up on the foods that trigger the release of the same 'fullness' hormone as the weight-loss drug Ozempic
ROMANTIC RUPERT
Retired media tycoon Rupert Murdoch is a sucker for love and at 93 he's got married - again!
RUNNING STRONG
This Roodepoort mom has lost half her body weight - and she's just done her second Comrades