Keeping It Up: The Story of Viagra

It’s been 25 years since Viagra came onto the market, changing the lives of millions of males and making billions of dollars for pharmaceutical firms.

But just how did the ‘magic’ little blue pill come about?

Well, despite the drug’s popularity today, the researchers who discovered Viagra weren’t actually looking for it.

Initially named compound UK-92,480, sildenafil (sold under the brand name Viagra) was developed to treat hypertension and angina in the 1980s.

However, when Pfizer biologists in Sandwich, Kent, started testing the drug, hoping that blood flow would increase to the heart and reduce chest pains, some patients soon began reporting other effects to their nurses – specifically an improved blood flow to the penis.

The sildenafil was clearly working, albeit in the wrong part of the body, and after a few years, Viagra became a hit as an erectile dysfunction (ED) drug, especially for older males.

The drug was patented in 1996, approved by the FDA in 1998, and offered for sale in the United States later that year.

By 2000, Viagra sales accounted for 92 per cent of the global market for prescribed erectile dysfunction pills, and annual sales of Viagra peaked at US$1.934 billion in 2008.

In this 90-minute Storyville documentary, triple Bafta Scotland award-winning filmmaker Stephen Bennett travels from Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales to New York to tell the story of the creation, promotion and exploitation of the so-called ‘potency pill’, which is now available over the counter in the UK.

As well as looking at the origins of Viagra, and its marketing (it was famously being endorsed by former US Senator Bob Dole and football star Pelé), Keeping It Up explains how, in the last few years, more and more young males have turned to this pharmaceutical solution.

For many, it’s something new to try and a bit of fun, while some (rightly or wrongly) believe that the drug can increase libido, improve sexual performance and permanently increase penis size

However, if we look into the many personal reasons behind its popularity among millennials, the trend is a lot deeper and emotionally rooted than it first appears.

Although there is nothing pharmaceutically addictive in Viagra, the assurance it gives, coupled with increasing use and higher doses, can be psychologically addictive for some.

So is Viagra a harmless quick fix, or are young males now relying on the pills too much?

And what can this tell us about the relationship between the physical and mental health of 21st-century men?

The programme also looks at the common side effects including headaches, heartburn and flushed skin, and one other aspect that Bennett investigates Viagra’s co-use with drugs like MDMA and ecstasy, as a way of maintaining erections.

Plus, there’s a look at the exploitation element of the drug. According to a Pfizer study, Viagra is one of the world’s most counterfeited medicines, and fake Viagra, despite generally being cheaper, can contain harmful substances or substances such as blue printer ink, amphetamines, metronidazole, boric acid and rat poison.

Looking ahead, the programme considers the future of Viagra.

Will the little blue pill, which kick-started the second sexual revolution and a controversy unlike any drug before it, have the staying power and potency to survive in the cutthroat pharmaceutical industry?