Pfizer to the rescue
The introduction of vacuum constriction devices (see chapter 11, “The penis in a vacuum”) and intracorporeal injection therapy (chapter 13) seems like ancient history, although they actually occurred in the waning years of the twentieth century. They provided two new options that allowed men to regain erections without surgery. Unfortunately, they were still more intricate than walking into the drugstore with a prescription and out with a magic pill, so men didn’t beat the doors down. Therefore men still went to the doctor only when desperate for treatment.
The introduction of Viagra brought about a sea change in this thought process. Whereas erectile dysfunction treatments were complex prior to that time, men could suddenly ask for a prescription and take a pill later that night. It was as simple as treating a headache.
The number of men with erectile dysfunction didn’t change on that day in 1998 when Viagra was released, but the number of diagnoses given in doctors’ offices around the world sure did. Significantly, most men were treated for erectile dysfunction by urologists prior to that time. That changed immediately. Currently, 86 percent of Viagra prescriptions are written by nonurologists according to Pfizer. Most are written by primary care providers. There are around ten thousand urologists in North America, but six hundred thousand different physicians worldwide have written Viagra prescriptions. Nine Viagra tablets are prescribed every second - that’s a lot of pills. Sixteen million men have taken the medication like cialis. Things have changed.
