Viagra

By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter

Last Thursday marked the 10-year-anniversary of Viagra.

The small blue pill has changed much in the bedroom since commercial sales began in 1997. More than 35 million men from 120 countries have taken 1.8 billion Viagra pills and the drug is still the most prescribed in the world. Six men swallow a Viagra pill every second.

The drug was originally intended to treat hypertension. Doc. Rober Furchgott, Louis J Ignarro and Ferid Murad, who were involved in the development of the pill, received the Prix Galien in 2000 for the happiness it brought to bedrooms. The drug is still known to be also effective for mountain sickness and fat heart muscles.

Many sex experts say Viagra isn't simply a drug but something that has changed bedroom culture. While many men don't talk about their sexual problems, the pill brought their shortcomings to light.

Their ``malfunctions'' could be easily tended to with the blue pill, they say. Celebrities, teachers and all kinds of people rushed to their urologists for prescriptions and talked about the ``magic pill'' changing their lives.

Enjoyable sexual relationships after middle-age became possible for men and frank talk about sex became part of mainstream culture.

Seventy-year-old Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson boasted about his taking the drug, and sex kitten Samantha Jones, a female character on the hit television show ``Sex and The City,'' took the pill for ``sexual pleasure.''

But nothing is perfect. Viagra tops the list for side effects, including constant blushing, temporary rises in blood pressure, headaches, pink eye and cyanosis among several others.

Runner-up drugs are threatening Viagra's market share in Korea. While it takes up 45.4 percent of the erectile dysfunction treatment market, Zydena and Cialis are catching up with 22.8 percent and 22 percent, respectively.

The distribution of fake pills is also a headache for drug maker Pfizer. Cyberspace is dominated by spam luring men to buy cheap Viagra, which is obviously fake. Customs announced earlier this month that more than 6.2 billion won worth of fake drugs were smuggled into the country. One person tried to bring in 30,000 fake viagra pills worth 356 million won.

Prof. Chung Woo-shik of Ewha Womans University's Mokdong Hospital said people with stenocardia or who have had a myocardial infarction should refrain from taking the drug, and those using it should not mix it with alcohol.

He also advised making sure your doctor knows everything about what drugs or substances you are taking and are allergic to.

``Most of all, make sure you buy drugs from legitimate sources only,'' he said.

bjs@koreatimes.co.kr