Viagra Drug May Be Approved For Rare Lung Disorder In Children

Some doctors readily administer doses of Viagra to children

Following a petition from Pfizer, the American Food & Drug Administration have set a date to decide whether their famous erectile dysfunction medication Viagra can be repackaged and licenced as a treatment for children suffering from pulmonary arterial hypotension. In fact, the active ingredient of Viagra namely Sildenafil is already marketed and sold as Revatio to adults with pulmonary arterial hypertension but it has yet to receive FDA approval for use in children.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension is an extremely rare condition among children with only a few hundred cases every year but in a few applications it has been shown that the Viagra active ingredient can significantly improve their quality of life.

Some doctors readily administer doses of Viagra to children with this condition despite it not having full approval but they obviously have to explain to the parents that the side effects of the drug have not been properly studied for this application. If the American Food & Drug Administration however gives Revatio for children full approval it will encourage more doctors to recommend it and could lead to more children having a better quality of life.

Sildenafil, the active ingredient of both Viagra and Revatio works by boosting the ability of blood vessels to absorb oxygen and this helps both men suffering from erectile dysfunction and also people suffering from pulmonary arterial hypertension.

At Ukmedix News we have written loads of stories about very young children whose lives were massively improved with doctors prescribing minute quantities of Viagra to get their heart and lung blood vessels working more efficiently.

In some cases the Viagra has been described as a ‘lifesaving medication’ and it has the added benefit of practically no side effects unlike many other treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension.