Who would have known that a laboratory trial for a medication supposedly for angina would end up with a very successful and effective drug for erectile dysfunction?  No one would have guessed that those little pills called Viagra were supposed to treat chest pains.

Sildefanil Citrate did very little for those who were taking it as a chest pain medication but even their doctors were surprised why the patients continued using the drug.  Unknown to them (but not for long) the drug was very effective in keeping the penis erect for a longer period than what was normal during arousal.

It all started with the compound sildenafil citrate which was discovered by researchers in 1989 in their quest to provide treatment for people who had inadequate supply of blood to the heart.  Researchers in England started to use the compound as medication for angina in 1991 until they found out that the male subjects of the study experienced an increase in their capability to have and to hold an erection.

The result of the research disappointed Pfizer and it took them a year before they decided to focus their research on compounds that can treat erectile dysfunction.  The initial study on the effects of sildenafil on erectile dysfunction started in 1993 and was completed a year after, with the researchers convinced that they had an effective treatment for impotence in their hands.  It took three years of clinical trials involving more or less 4500 men suffering from erection problems before the Food and Drug Administration approved Viagra in 1998.

The discovery of Viagra, which is known as the first pill approved by the FDA for impotence, is considered a breakthrough in the medical field.  With an annual sales statistics of over $1 billion between 1999 and 2001, it is considered Pfizer’s number one money maker.

While the manufacturing patent of Viagra contained the names of Albert Wood and Peter Dunn as the inventors of Viagra, Pfizer is quick to dispute this and claims their names were placed in the patent merely for convenience.  Three other Pfizer employees have been credited for the discovery of Viagra namely Doctors David Brown, Nicholas Terrett and Andrew Bell.  Terrett’s name appeared in the British patent application of Viagra when it was still being studied as treatment for angina. Pfizer insists that Viagra is a product of the efforts of hundreds of Pfizer employees who were paid by the company to research on the drug.

The popularity of Viagra as an effective treatment for erectile dysfunction is further boosted by marketing efforts including the endorsement of the drug by former Senator Bob Dole and even Pele’.