10 Drugs with an Unusual History
By Jo Ann LeQuang
The famous little blue pill advertised on TV, Viagra, started out life as a remedy for high blood pressure and angina. It was developed in Great Britain by a research team from Pfizer seeking improved drugs for cardiac care. Viagra’s performance at reducing blood pressure and chest pain was lackluster, but investigators noticed a remarkable side effect to the drug. The rest, as they say, is marketing. The more you know about drugs, the more you know we don’t know a lot about drugs. Here are 10 drugs with an unusual history.