Dr David Brown, co-inventor of Viagra, has revealed that the blockbuster drug might never have existed if a Welsh miner had not spoken up during a clinical trial. The disclosure comes ahead of the BBC drama Men Up, which tells the story of the ordinary men from Merthyr Tydfil who participated in early tests.
Brown, a former medicinal chemist at Pfizer, was leading the development of sildenafil as a potential treatment for angina. By 1993, the project was on the verge of being scrapped after eight years of research. As a final attempt, a study was conducted at a clinic in Merthyr Tydfil, a town hit by poverty and unemployment after coal mine closures.
Volunteers were paid £300 to stay overnight and undergo monitoring. The next morning, a female clinical associate asked them to fill out a questionnaire. One miner raised his hand and reported that he had been having erections all night. Others confirmed similar experiences. Brown said the associate, who was embarrassed, relayed the information to him.
Brown realised that the drug, designed to relax blood vessels around the heart, was having the same effect on arteries in the penis. Despite initial resistance from his boss, Brown insisted on pursuing the new application. 'I went and closed his office door and said, 'I'm not leaving this room until you give me the money',' he recalled. An hour later, he secured funding.
Viagra was launched commercially in 1998 and became one of the most-prescribed drugs in history. Brown noted that previous trials had also reported erections, but the information was not passed on, likely due to embarrassment. 'It could've been missed if that one miner and our clinical research associate had not said something,' he said. 'The drug wouldn't exist.'
