Viagra trial on pregnant women ceased after 11 babies died

A clinical trial on Viagra in Amsterdam was stopped after the experiments resulted in the death of 11 babies.

The Dutch researchers ceased the study when the babies died from a lung disease after their mothers were tested with the drug sildenafil or popularly known as Viagra.

The clinical trial was conducted by the Amsterdam University Medical Center.

During the trial, the drug was administered while the women were pregnant.

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As part of the trial, the mothers were tested to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of sildenafil on unborn babies with fetal growth restriction.

The babies were at risk of being stillborn or dying after the delivery, as explained in the study.

Out of the 183 participants, 93 mothers were treated with sildenafil while the rest were treated with a placebo or a dummy pill.

During the experiments, the mothers had no knowledge about the treatment they were receiving, which is typical for clinical trials.

The Amsterdam University Medical Center stated that the 183 mothers participated in the trial from 11 different locations in the Netherlands since the study started in 2015.

The results revealed that 19 babies that were born to women treated with Viagra died and 11 of those babies had the lung disorder.

Six babies who had the lung disorder survived their birth.

As for the mothers who took the dummy pills, nine had babies who died, but those babies did not have the lung disorder. Three babies with the disorder born to mothers who were treated with the placebo survived.

As revealed by the medical center’s statement, Viagra is often used as a treatment for mothers whose babies experience problems in growing normally. They clarified that the practice will most likely be stopped following the results of the study.

As for the makers of the drug, a spokeswoman for Pfizer named Dervila Keane clarified via email that the company was not involved in the research and recommended that all questions should be directed to the researchers.

The babies who were involved in the halted study will still be monitored, according to the medical center. They said the children’s development and the data gathered will be further analyzed.

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are also conducting the same clinical trial of sildenafil.