How bizarre side effect of blood pressure drug trials in a sleepy British seaside town resulted in invention of viagra
FOR more than two centuries the good folk of Sandwich enjoyed living in the place that gave its name to the world’s most famous lunchtime staple . . . then, in 1998, something else came up.
The quaint seaside town on the Kent coast was suddenly famed for being the unlikely birthplace of Viagra — the wonderdrug that sparked a sexual revolution as a fix for male impotence.
To mark its 25th birthday, ITV is releasing documentary The Great Erection Deception: The Stiff Nights Story, which looks at Viagra’s creation and, later, its abuse by those out to make money.
Britain may have safely given birth to the diamond-shaped little blue pill, but within years the US market was saturated with an alternative which could have contributed to making millions of Americans ill — or even killing them.
Due to the stigma surrounding its use, there is no way of knowing how many people were affected.
The Viagra story all started in that quaint coastal town, where pharma giant Pfizer’s local labs were secretly developing the medicine in the hope of changing millions of lives — but not quite how you might know.
Although Viagra went on sale worldwide in 1998, it had originally been developed in Sandwich six years earlier as a treatment for high blood pressure.
Bats’ urine
Co-creator Dr Peter Ellis recalls of the pill’s early trials: “The volunteers, young, healthy males, all started talking to one another, and to the doctors, and said something unusual was happening — ‘I’m getting erections, inappropriately and much, much harder than I would normally get’.
“In the development of Viagra there have been several ‘bingo’ moments.
“Taking this oral tablet can produce erections, when sexually aroused, for patients with erectile dysfunction — that was a ‘wow’ moment.
“Our compound, known at the time as UK92480, became sildenafil citrate, later Viagra, but it was all the same drug.”
Amazingly, despite the revolutionary effects on many volunteers, Dr Ellis says he has never sampled the medication himself.
He adds: “It’s there for the day when I need it.
“At the moment it still works.”
Fellow developer Dr Ian Osterloh explains the theory behind the drug, which Pfizer spent £1billion developing.
He says: “Imagine an erection a bit like filling a bath.
“Imagine the sexual stimulation is like turning a tap on.
“Unless the plug is in, the bath won’t fill.
“Giving sildenafil is a bit like putting the plug in the bath.”
Viagra sparked mania — and lots of saucy gags — on its global release.
But behind the laughter were millions of lovers relieved there was finally help for an age-old problem.
Up to that point, experts had failed to come up with anything — and many men frustrated in the bedroom struggled to maintain more than just a stiff upper lip.
Sex historian Dr Kate Lister, of Leeds Trinity University, says in the documentary: “As long as there have been men, there have been willies that won’t work properly, and throughout history there have been quack cures.
“They have included eating the testicles of various animals, drinking bats’ urine, inducing the penis with minor electric shocks, hot baths, cold baths, even lying on sheets of lead.”
Viagra’s arrival, and customers’ desire to get hold of it quickly, naturally led to global copycat bids.
But given Pfizer had tweaked its formula 92,480 TIMES before finally going to market, that was tough.
There were also tight regulations over who took the drug, as it could be harmful to people with heart conditions, particularly if they swallowed too strong a dose.
So producers worldwide started looking for a way around the rules.
That began with finding natural alternatives to sildenafil — and one Chinese supplier came up with golden speargrass extract.
This was a plant indigenous to China and, as it was not a lab drug, there were no regulations against producing it, no licence was needed to sell it and no prescription needed to buy it.
In America, Mormon Kelly Harvey, in Salt Lake City, Utah — who tried the substance in 2007 — found his imagination fired.
Both he and wife Jennifer had been delighted with the results.
So together with a business partner, Erb Avore, Harvey used it to develop a Viagra alternative and came up with Stiff Nights — which quickly became a phenomenon that swept America.
Their “little red pill”, with sales pitch “Regain the Thunder”, was sold everywhere from sex shops to petrol stations.
Within months, Harvey was bringing home millions of dollars — sometimes in suitcases brimming with notes which he lavished on his family to buy laptops, holidays and other gifts.
But he later found his natural, herbal extract was laced with sildanefil — the ingredient in Viagra.
Dr Ellis says: “To take sildenafil, mix it with something else and call it a different substance, there’s a danger.
“Is this drug safe? Does it cause heart attacks? Does this drug make you go blind? Worst case scenario, it could be life-threatening.”
Because Harvey was making so much money, he decided to take his chances and continue selling the pills until 2011 — when he was finally busted by the Food and Drug Administration in the US.
He admitted conspiring with others to manufacture and distribute erectile dysfunction products under false pretences and with the intent to conceal from the FDA the use of a regulated ingredient.
However, lots of pills remained in circulation.
In 2013 the family of a man from Missouri, US, claimed he had died after taking Stiff Nights.
Experts now fear there could be many more cases like his.
Jeff Abraham, CEO of US sexual wellness brand Promescent, says in the programme: “I guarantee you there’s more because most people, when someone passes away, don’t go rummaging through their drawers saying, ‘Hey, they took a gas station boner pill last night, that’s what caused it!’.
“There should be many people serving prison time.”
Harvey — who separately admitted conspiracies involving importing ephedrine into the US and money laundering — ended up serving a total of three years in jail.
He said: “I seriously under-estimated the repercussions of my actions. But I learned so much. I don’t know if I would change it.”
Although the Stiff Nights story is alarming, it highlights the contrast with our regulated use of Viagra.
The key ingredient is still considered one of the safest on the market and, now it’s available on the NHS, things are on the up for many fellas.
Viagra-ha-ha
A MAN got a Viagra tablet stuck in his throat. He ended up with a stiff neck.
PATIENT to pharmacist: “Does Viagra work?” Pharmacist: “Yes.”
Patient: “Can I get it over the counter?”
Pharmacist: “You can if you take two . . .”
HUNDREDS of Viagra pills have been stolen in a raid on a Boots store. Police are looking for hardened criminals.
MEN taking iron supplements and Viagra have been warned they may spin around and point north.
- The Great Erection Deception: The Stiff Nights Story is on ITVX on Thursday.