The pharmaceutical company Pfizer is today known worldwide, beyond the world of patients and healthcare workers, for having been one of those that have developed, in record time, a vaccine against Covid19.
It is not the only milestone in its history.
There was another moment in which their products went from the laboratories to settle in the collective imagination in an indelible way.
25 years ago, Pfizer registered a patent on sildenafil, trade name Viagra: the blue diamond-shaped pill that helps with male erections.
Not only did he contribute to the fight against erectile dysfunction, to change a world of sagging penises, but he also became a social and cultural landmark.
Viagra came “in a cultural age that emphasized the sacred triumvirate of youth, vitality, and performance,” as sociologist Meika Loe, author of the book, has observed.
The rise of Viagra
.
American filmmaker Spike Lee has announced the filming of a musical about the circumstances that led to the discovery of Viagra, inspired by an article by David Kushner published in
Esquire
magazine
that narrates precisely that incident: a drug that was originally conceived to treat problems heart disease reveals its ability to cause erections and becomes a global phenomenon.
Not only that: Viagra Boys is the name of a
postpunk
band
from Stockholm.
Francisco Umbral, today again topical thanks to the documentary about his life directed by Charlie Arnaiz and Alberto Ortega that has been nominated for the Goya, published a book in 1998, when things were new, entitled
Historia de amor y Viagra.
Celebrities such as Jack Nicholson or Michael Douglas acknowledged taking it and footballer Pelé arrived, not without some sarcasm on the part of the media and spectators, to record advertisements telling about the virtues of the drug.
Of course, Viagra has appeared on
The Simpsons
, when Bart pours it into the cafe of Mr. Skinner, the principal of his school.
During these two and a half decades it has been the meat of praise, of jokes, of
meme,
of talk, until it has become an unmistakable icon.
The word
viagra
became embedded in popular language to describe anything that enhances or facilitates things:
viagra
for the company,
mental
viagra
, or the mobile phone as
social
viagra
, according to the sociologist Enrique Gil Calvo in this newspaper, “because it empowers our relationships ”.
"At that time, I read a headline that said: 'There are two million powerless in Spain.'
I think it was very beneficial that people with erectile dysfunction knew that they were not the only ones, that it was a widespread problem, that they talked about it ", recalls sexologist Carme Sánchez, from the Serrate & Ribal Institute of Urology.
In a way, Viagra bears similarities to the recent phenomenon Satisfyer, the famous clitoral sucker, which has also found a niche in popular culture and has brought to the fore a topic that was hardly talked about: female masturbation .
The difference is that, although masturbation falls within the pleasurable and festive aspects, impotence (a term in disuse due to its negative connotations) can mean that the sufferer, in addition to sexual problems, other psychological problems: anxiety, depression or lack of selfesteem.
“The penis is the symbol of a certain masculinity.
For many, that it works well means that you are a man, ”says Sánchez.
Viagra came to restore their hypothetical manhood to those who thought they had lost it.
The shadow of Viagra is long and, decades after its commercialization and all that hype, it remains an icon for young people.
"When I explain in class the mechanisms related to Viagra, just by citing that name I already notice another attitude in the class, the students become much more receptive," explains Magdalena Torres, professor of Biochemistry at the Complutense University.
According to Torres, Viagra is the story of a failure that became a success: “Pfizer began to do clinical trials with this molecule to treat angina pectoris, since, as a vasodilator, it increases the caliber of the arteries… but the The result was not what was expected ”.
The funny thing was to find a side effect: the drug caused erections.
So new clinical trials were devised, and eventually Viagra became what we know.
“I don't know if it becomes a case of serendipity, but it does illustrate how science sometimes works: when we are looking for one thing, we may end up finding another.
Since then the molecule has been used for various purposes ”.
The case is reminiscent of the ultra-popular Finasteride, the drug to prevent hair loss but which was, at first, a treatment for the prostate.
Viagra was also associated with mature men, with those who, due to their physical condition and age, had erection problems.
This medicine came to bring a "second sexual youth."
But that is not an obstacle for young people to also use it.
"Erectile dysfunction can be a physical problem, that's when Viagra works, but it can also have psychological causes, in which case other treatments are needed," says Sánchez.
Even so, some young people use it to gain confidence, to avoid the dreaded trigger in sporadic relationships, in one-night stands or to alleviate the effect of alcohol and drugs ... Which is sometimes like killing flies with cannon shots.
Viagra is one of the most commonly used drugs at
chemsex
gatherings
, those parties that mix sex and drugs and delight television sensationalism.
Often the only substance
legal tender.
In fact, in January, in Salamanca, the police arrested a young man skipping the curfew and carrying cocaine, marijuana,
speed,
Popper ... and a blister of Viagra (which due to its shape and color could well be an ecstasy tablet) .
There was also Viagra among the substances found, with great scandal, in the house of the dancer Rafael Amargo.
They are uses not recommended by doctors.
In 2020, 17 patients were found in a hospital in Turkey who had started to see blue (like the pill itself) when ingesting the maximum recommended dose of Viagra for the first time, and for recreation.
How does blue Viagra look through purple glasses from a gender perspective?
Some have pointed out that this drug placed, or rather kept, the penis, the masculine, at the center of the sexual.
For now, the much vaunted “Viagra for women” has not worked: Addyi, marketed in 2015 (17 years after the supposed male equivalent) is only indicated for a specific sexual disorder and full of contraindications and side effects.
"We know that penetration does not even have to be the most important thing in a sexual relationship or, of course, for the female orgasm," concludes Sánchez.
Many times the tree, to make a bold metaphor, does not allow the forest to be seen.
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