Viagra – USED or ABUSED?
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– Team World of Pharmacy
You must have come across the tablet named “Viagra”. It was first launched in 1998 by Pfizer to treat “Erectile Dysfunction” and contains the drug “Sildenafil”. Within an year of its launch, it became the most sold drug in the US market. Doesn’t it sound like the sales of DOLO-650?
Patients suffering from ED were the obvious consumers. But the problem arose when those not suffering from ED also started consuming this drug. This gives rise to a questionable thought: isn’t this drug interfering in the natural process of human mating?
Well, it indeed led to a situation where ED didn’t matter and normal sexual drive was pushed to a different bar, where the ED was just used to mask the consumption of drug. However, this resulted into bad debts in terms of serious health issues. Slowly, people who consumed it more than the advised / self-prescribed dose started to suffer from tissue damages in the reproductive parts. Aged people were found to be at the risk of facing strokes, heart attacks, pain in arms, etc. The use of this drug certainly caused death of 522 patients in the very first year of its launch due to cardiovascular events associated with the use of this drug. It even increased the chances of occurrence of a melanoma.
Here is a quick question for all the pharmacists reading this- what you would do when you encounter such a patient? Please let us know.
So after the above story, you might be wondering how bad this drug is. Initially, the dose regiments were proved to be a success. However, its high consumption lead to such serious side effects and it was later added into the class of “Schedule H1”. Schedule H1 drugs are the drugs which are only to be sold on a valid-verified-documented prescription. Otherwise, the drug store is bound to deny the supply of such drugs. Schedule H1 class is categorized to prevent drug abuse and Viagra complies to be under this class. Thus, a pharmacy is not allowed to sell Viagra over the counter (OTC) as to comply with the protocols of FDA & the availability of the same has been reduced in many pharmacy stores over the country.
Now, rules & regulations play a role, isn’t it? So wondering how to get accurate diagnosis upon the same? Well, first consult with your nearest sexologist or contact us to guide you & get yourself checked to know whether you are suffering from ED or not. Once the diagnosis is complete, the nearest pharmacy would be able to supply you with the basic need of the same upon verification of the prescription.
Common Side effects of this drug are headaches, flushing, upset stomach & dizziness. Incase you find abnormal vision, immediately consult your physician.
Sildenafil was the 1st generation drug of its class while others were Xanthroanthrafil, Vardenafil , Tadalafil and Avanafil.
Pfizer’s patents on Viagra expired in 2013. Now, in India, it is under Generic Manufacturing & Brand Manufacturing companies such as Ajanta Pharma, Cipla, Sun Pharma, Zydus Cadila & Alkem Laboratories.
That’s all for now friends! Keep checking our pages…interesting blogs are on the way!
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Saneet Jain [Founder]