Like the
reliable erection its new product promised, Pfizer's stock had risen 21%
in the previous two months. Some urologists bought rubber stamps so they
could churn out prescriptions, and equally excited patients booked
advance appointments. Despite all that, Viagra, the world's most popular
prescription party drug, didn't have much of a party the day the FDA
gave its much-anticipated O.K. to sildenafil citrate. That's because
giant pharmaceutical companies—even ones that get a license from
the government to print money in blue-pill form—aren't really party
places. "We had a nice dinner that night," admits Dr. Ian Osterloh, who
directed the development of the impotence treatment.
The drug,
originally designed to treat angina (patients still had angina, but some
also noted a different kind of agitation they had not had in some time),
was approved as expected on the final day of the FDA's six-month
priority review. News of the approval immediately went up on the FDA
website, the first time the agency notified the public of its decision
in real time. And then the world celebrated: Cocoon was played
out in every Florida retirement community, marriages moved on to deeper
problems, the porn industry was democratized and talk-show hosts got a
new way to tell Bill Clinton jokes.
TIME Cover
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