Infants With Pulmonary Hypertension
Whoah. Cool. It looks like you can treat babies with pulmonary hypertension with Viagra, of all things.
No fooling.
Although I in all seriousness to find myself if baby boys wind up with erections from it (my guess would be no), I still think it's cool.
ooh, that'd be bad if it made them stay up all night...
This is a perfect example why "off label" use of drugs is such an important thing. There are many, many drugs like this that are used to treat conditions in ways not approved by the FDA. Some are rare conditions, such as this. Some are common conditions for which there will never be randomized trials (anything having to do with pregnancy, for instance).
Fortunately, there are smart people, like the doctors in this study, who are willing to do the research that drug companies will not do because it takes too long or applies to too few people.
The most surprising of all miracle drugs is Thalidomide, and the FDA has just approved labeling it for use in the treatment of leprosy. It also holds potential for AIDS-related cachexia and aphthous ulcers (FDA approval pending), cancer, graft-vs.-host disease, lupus, and other conditions.
Some docs in California are using it to help women get pregnant as well. Helps increase the blood flow to all kinds of things.
I wonder if it will get rid of the aphid infestation on my roses too? Multi-purpose drug, stranger things have happened. Might be a bit expensive, however...
I thought Viagra was originally designed to fight hypertension until someone noticed the side effects....
maor is right. Viagra was originally developed to help older people fight high blood pressure, espceially after a first heart attack.
Then they got all these septuagenerians coming into the office with all-night erections, and they realized they had a weiner... uh, winner.
CS
triticale, Thalidomide was on the road to approval when a sharp-eyed FDA researcher noticed some potential ill effects. She held up the approval, and as a result, there are very few 'Thalidomide babies' in the US.
What most people don't know, however, is that this researcher actually determined the reason for the birth defects - Thalidomide suppresses a certain critical vitamin during embryonic formation. I think she even came up with a "pregnancy-safe" version of the drug with a vitamin supplement, but (understandably) the FDA was too wary to approve it.
But her research on Thalidomide likely paved the way for examination of its other effects, as well as providing a safer version overall.