Eleven babies died during their mother’s pregnancy in a clinical study in the Netherlands. The researchers believed that Viagra, a drug initially prescribed for erection problems, could promote blood flow to the placenta and thus stimulate fetal growth.
“I expected them to tell me that the drug works so well that we would no longer have the right to deny it to patients in the placebo group. But the numbers from all participating hospitals told a different story. only infant mortality was much higher among women who took viagra, but their babies also suffered from severe lung disease much more often. ” Wessel Ganzevoor, gynecologist and research director, laments in the Dutch media, and for good reason. He has just interrupted a clinical study responsible for the death of 11 fetuses.
Initially, the doctor and his team wanted to help pregnant women with fetuses growing too slowly. At 22 weeks, when a baby weighs 300 grams instead of 600, her survival rate is 40-50%, and those born with this severe stunting are in poor health.
Promote blood flow to the placenta
No drug today being able to treat this problem, the researchers thought that viagra, drug initially prescribed for the problems of erection, could promote the blood flow in the placenta and thus stimulate the growth of the fetus. The main effect of this prescription is to dilate the blood vessels.
A therapeutic trial was launched in 2015, with the collaboration of 10 hospitals in the Netherlands. 93 women with a stunted fetus started taking viagra during pregnancy, while another 90, in the same obstetric condition, received a placebo. Results: 19 babies confronted with viagra in utero died during pregnancy. 11 deaths were directly associated with taking the famous blue pill, responsible for pulmonary hypertension. 6 babies in the test group were also born premature, with serious lung problems, again linked to taking the pacemaker. In the control group, only three babies had these lung problems, and all nine deaths were due to other causes.
“The last thing you want is to hurt patients”
“I’m shocked. The last thing you want is to hurt patients,” Wessel Ganzevoor guilty in the daily By Volkskrant. “I hope that patients will not be put off by this report, because scientific studies like this are useful if you demonstrate that something is not working or is working counterproductively. It will prevent it from entering the market. drugs that harm patients, “he says positively.
None of the women recruited for this study had any complications from taking the drug. In Canada, scientists conducting a similar study have temporarily halted their research.
High tension in the arteries of the lungs
L’hypertension pulmonary is manifested by high tension in the arteries of the lungs. The arteries are narrowed, making it more difficult for blood to flow. The pressure can be high on the right side – in the blood vessels that carry blood from the heart to the lungs for oxygen, or on the left side – in the blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood from the lungs to the heart.
Worldwide sales of Viagra amounted to 1.5 billion euros in 2012. The blue pill has been around for 20 years and has shown its effectiveness in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Researchers recently gathered the results of research already carried out on Viagra and its derivatives, and demonstrated its effectiveness in the treatment of rare cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, melanoma and gliablastoma. For now, the studies are still in progress (in phase I or II), but it would seem that in this context, Viagra “has several anticancer effects which may have therapeutic value”.
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