Talk:Sildenafil

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Contents 1 Dosage info in article 2 Origin of name 3 Moved to sildenafil 4 price info is US-centred 5 Viagra-Blindness 6 Spam, spam, spam... 7 For fact-checking 8 Image 9 Scored? 10 Multi-address spambot 11 Request for more information 12 Effects on women 13 Death of Sani Abacha 14 Citation 15 Hard drug 16 Removed some text 17 More Legislative History Needed 18 Negative studies 19 Viagra saves a baby 20 Page is a mess... 21 UK?

[edit] Dosage info in article

Is it wise for Wikipedia to have dosage recommendations for Viagra, which is a perscription medication? Dispensing medical advice can be very risky, espcially for a public-domain forum like this one. (It could also encourage spammers to edit in their own 'recommendations.')

I think the only criterion should be truth. Is the information given in the "Dosage and price" section objectively true? I don't know, but if it is, then it should stay. AxelBoldt 11:05 Aug 21, 2002 (PDT)

If its a perscriptions, it shud not be listed in here you shud only find it if you ar perscriptions. Altho thay mite rite in the ensiclopedia wat is usaly is and wat efect is usaly is, evin tho you shud not actely do that, becuse enybudy reeding shud no to prescripsen instrucsens insted.

[edit] Origin of name

Does anybody know the origin of the name "viagra"? Yes, "viagra" comes from the contraction of two words VIGOR and NIAGARA, for the word VIGOR it doesn't need to be explained and is NIAGARA from the waterfall giving an impression of a fontaine of hennessy happiness with an impressionant rate, also the first letter V is for VICTORY for those who couldn't before and the form of the legs open from a woman.

[edit] Moved to sildenafil

Policy seems to be that in the naming of drugs, the generic name is used. This limits intercontinental confusion and decreases the smell of advertising (and spam, see above).
JFW | T@lk 22:09, 3 May 2004 (UTC)

Should this be under Sildenafil citrate? Sildenafil citrate was redirecting to Viagra so I switched it to redirect to Sildenafil. Frunge.

You're right, I should have tidied up the double-redirects. Generally, it seems wikipedia names pharmaca (drugs) after the active ingredient. IMHO it would be folly to name all adjuvants (enalapril malleate, atorvastatin calcium, imatinib mesylate). Correct me if I'm wrong—the Wikiproject Drugs never really hit off, and whenever I do pharmacology subjects I just follow my intuition.
JFW | T@lk 09:36, 4 May 2004 (UTC)

One disadvantage of putting naming the article 'Sildenafil' is that if you browse Category:PDE5_inhibitors, it's not immediately obvious that Viagra and Cialis (as they are currently best known, due to spam) work on similar principles, unless you happen to know the drug name. - Jon Dowland 14:33, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] price info is US-centred

For example, in India the various sildenafil citrate brands all cost much less than 90 US-cents for a 100 mg pill. That is because India still allows only process patents, no product patents. (A product-patent ordinance was issued on 30 Dec 2004, but when the parliment will be in session in a month or so; it will have to be replaced by a bill - and the bill will have to be passed by majority vote in both houses of parliament - just like in the UK. We shall see.)

[edit] Viagra-Blindness

How do we manage Viagra-Blindness issue? Is it acceptable to post that there are rumors that... See http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/26/eveningnews/main698124_page2.shtml for instance --Dennis Valeev 22:02, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Spam, spam, spam...

There seems to be no end to the Viagra linkspam. Is there anything we can do about this besides constantly reverting the page? ~K 03:45, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Get it protected, I believe, if it's happening regularly enough within a short time-span.

How about mentioning the prevalence of viagra | cialis | levitra in spam email? I know I'm not the only person in the world who gets multiple spam emails a day from third-rate web sites trying to sell me these drugs over the internet without a prescription. Obviously, I don't want to endorse the sites, but rather point out the fraudulent use of it online...

[edit] For fact-checking

In some countries like Mexico, India where the patent on Viagra have expired, big drug manufacturers manufactured, where it is marketed under the brand name Caverta, Silagra, Edegra, Kamagra, Meltabs. These pills contain exactly the same ingredients as the branded one but cost a quater of the original branded one. --Calton | Talk 15:04, August 24, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image

The image of the sildenafil molecule was deleted. Who is going to upload a new one? I can have a go, but my MDL ISIS 2.5 is not exporting images to PNG for some odd reason. JFW | T@lk 22:35, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

Done. ~K 00:08, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Scored?

This line looks wrong: Sildenafil is not scored, meaning there is no guarantee that the drug is evenly distributed throughout the tablet, therefore it is not advisable to cut it to change dosage. Is there some meaning of "scored" I'm not familiar with? I thought if a pill was scored it meant the pill was notched to allow easy splitting, nothing about even distribution of the active drug. Am I missing something? Fan1967 03:11, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

You're correct about the meaning. The issue being raised is that if the composition of the pill is not homogeneous and one physically cuts it in half, one may not get "half the dose". Whether this is the reason the pill is not scored here...dunno. DMacks 01:43, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

I am just wondering, if this sentence is incorrect, could someone remove it? I don't want to do it because I am not familiar with this drug, and don't personally know if it is right or wrong.

> Sildenafil is not scored and it is not advisable to cut it to change dosage since the active compound is not distributed homogenously in the tablet.

I want to send a link to this page to someone and don't want to scare them about cutting the pill.

Kelliann 19:56, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

The Viagra FAQ notes:

Can I cut my pills in half?

VIAGRA pills should not be cut in half. No studies have been done to determine if half a pill is effective.

Also, even if it were homogeneous (which I don't know) the actual cutting may be hard to do evenly. A FAQ I found through Google (NB: commercial company, so potential bias towards their special cutter, but underlying issue sounds believable even if their cutter is no better than any other) says:

What about the pill cutter my pharmacists sells for about $10? Will it cut Viagra?

No. Inexpensive pill cutters are available, but they are designed to cut uncoated pills such as aspirin that are already "scored" or notched to facilitate easy cutting. The coating on Viagra is extremely hard and very difficult to penetrate, even with a razor. If you do manage to slice through the hard coating, the ingredients inside the Viagra tablet usually crumble unevenly, making it impossible to get an accurate dose.

DMacks 20:32, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Multi-address spambot

This article appears to be monitored by some sort of spambot with a wide range of IP addresses at its disposal. Within minutes after unprotecting the article today, it picked right back up again. Semi-protection (both on and off) will be tested throughout the week. If this continues through the long term, I suggest that this article be protected in the same manner as George W. Bush. Best regards, Hall Monitor 17:41, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Request for more information

I've made a request for more information about how this drug compares to similar ones. I think other people would like to know more about this too. Thanks to anyone who can help. Eje211 16:59, 9 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Effects on women

Can anyone provide an authoratative cite to support the claim that Viagra "is also capable of arousing women for greater sexual drive" ? I have seen no research to support this claim and in fact IIRC recent studies show this to be false. 06:59, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Death of Sani Abacha

I went looking for a cite for:

Sani Abacha, suspected cause of his death ^{[citation needed]}

but couldn't find any. Well, I found mention that a dose of Sildenafil may have led to his death, but only inasmuch as it is the suspected vehicle for an unrelated poison (if one believes that he was poisoned at all).[1] DMacks 17:00, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citation

I've changed the citation style to cite.php throughout. No paper was cited more than once, making this the most preferable referencing system for this article.

I also removed a few papers reporting effects on Raynaud's, given that a randomised controlled trial is available.

We should work on the unreferenced parts of the article. The speculation in its naming is unsourced and could do with a WP:CITE. JFW | T@lk 12:14, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hard drug

The link "hard drug" leads here, but it also refers to illegal drugs that are very potent.

[edit] Removed some text

I removed the following text because it just sounds like one editors guesses. Pls provide a source before reincluding:

The name "Viagra", like many drug names, is a marketing invention. It was possibly inspired by the Sanskrit word "vyāghra", which means "tiger". The word rhymes with "Niagara" (Niagara Falls is a popular honeymoon destination and Niagara, being such an impressive waterfall, evokes a sense of incredible erectile and ejaculatory strength). The sound of the word also suggests the words "vigor" and "virile"^{[citation needed]}.

I also removed this, because it is unsourced speculation:

It has been suggested that Viagra would lead to a marked drop in the demand for certain traditional remedies, such as tiger penises and rhinoceros horns and that the drug may therefore help to preserve these endangered species. However, this is unlikely in that these parts of endangered species are not only used to treat impotence. Rhinoceros horns, for example, are used as a treatment for high fever. Furthermore, since Viagra has not been shown to possess aphrodisiac properties, it is unclear that the natural remedies would compete with this new clinical drug.

Ashmoo 04:10, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree with the removal of both. Although plausible, this article needs to be referenced as tightly as possible, and both factoids were unsourced and failed WP:V for a very long time. JFW | T@lk 20:20, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More Legislative History Needed

I think more needs to be put into the entry about Viagra's legislative history, by state. For instance, several states have recently halted Medicaid spending on Viagra for conviced sex offenders. I'm thinking in the first "History" section, more about this should be included. Scunning 19:59, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Negative studies

Probably shouldn't be included, but sildenafil actually worsens sleep apnea syndrome[2]. JFW | T@lk 19:21, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Viagra saves a baby

[3] opened the vessels in the childs lungs allowing it to take in the oxygen being delivered. Could be added to other uses section. Anyone agree?-Ravedave ^{(Adopt a State)} 05:50, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

This use is in fact mentioned above, albeit in medical terminology. One single newspaper article doesn't necessitate adding a section like "viagra saves baby" or some nonsense like that. Maybe if it were routinely used, it would be notable. Perhaps that link should just be in the links section? Fuzzform 01:17, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Page is a mess...

This page is full of junk information about anecdotal use of Viagra, rather than any substantial information about the compound. For example, why is there a description of the pill in the first paragraph? This is not something you would find in any other page about a pharmaceutical. And why is there information about cutting the pill in half? It's probably sustained release, anyway. Fuzzform 01:17, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] UK?

Given that sildenafil was first synthesized in England, why is there no info about when it was approved by the authorities there? The History section goes straight from the British trials to the American FDA approval, which looks silly. Oh, and in reply to the "More Legislative History" bit above: why only "by state"? The US isn't the only country where Viagra is used! 81.158.3.1 13:20, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

People write what they know and/or can find references to support. If you have additional information on a topic or feel something is written poorly, feel free to edit the article to include or improve whatever you think is appropriate...that's how Wikipedia works. DMacks 13:40, 26 March 2007 (UTC)