Seven Hard Years
by Jonathan Quince
Sunday, March 27, 2005 12:45:38
On this day in 1998, the U.S. FDA issued its approval of Viagra® (Sildenafil citrate), Pfizer’s new drug for treating erectile dysfunction.
![[Molecular diagram of base for Sildenafil citrate (Viagra®)]](http://www.sopef.org/Log/2005/03/Viagra_formulae.png "Base for: 1-[4-ethoxy- 3-(6,7-dihydro- 1-methyl- 7-oxo- 3-propyl- 1H-pyrazolo [4,3-d]pyrimidin-5-yl) phenylsulfonyl]- 4-methylpiperazine citrate")
For seven long, hard years, a big blue pill laced with C22H30N6O4S·C6H8O7 has toiled tirelessly to strike the shackles of flaccidity from the groins of the downtrodden. Sex lives around the world have been uplifted as a result. Pfizer has also found $10-per-pill Viagra® to be a rousing success, its coffers swelling with annual sales of over $1 billion in some years. To top it off, Viagra® has found its recreational uses amongst those who are not turgidity-challenged; millions have thereby discovered that there are elements harder than iron, and even some women have found it to be a stimulating experience.
On a social scale, Viagra® has injected frank talk about sex into places it otherwise couldn’t get. In pre-Viagra® society, who could have imagined Bob Dole giving commercial endorsements for a sex aid? And thanks to the gold-rush that Viagra® ignited, the field of medicine has seen an influx of research into ways that science can improve sex. Thus, even non-users have had their lives touched in some way by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor that would suffer no inhibitions.
So let us rise for a toast to the wonders of modern technology, and to Viagra®: Revelation in private to some, revolution in public to all, and major turn-on to Pfizer’s shareholders.
Image of Viagra® stolen from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia.
