Viagra is also good for improving the sex life of depressed women, a new study found. Sildenafil citrate, sold under the names Viagra, Revatio and under various other names, was originally designed to increase blood flow to the penis and enable for harder and longer erections in men suffering from erectile dysfunction. The drug works similarly in women, engorging their clitoris and heightening the stimulation, which leads to more frequent, stronger orgasms.

The research, funded by Viagra maker Pfizer, was published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. It was carried out by a team led by H. George Nurnberg, MD, a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine in Albuquerque.

Scientists looked at 98 depressed women who, on average, had been taking antidepressants for two years and had suffered sexual problems for at least four weeks, and found that 72 percent of them got to 'much improved' or 'very much improved' on a scale of sexual functioning. The figure is significant, as only 27 women taking placebo reported the same improvements.

However, it appears that Viagra only works well on women who have normal testosterone levels. Depression is a common problem affecting sexual life. The issue is even more exacerbated due to the antidepressant drugs, which often cause a lower sex drive. Viagra unfortunately does nothing to increase sex drive, it just has physiological effects concerning the blood flow to the penis/clitoris.

Sildenafil was first developed  for use in hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a symptom of ischaemic cardiovascular disease), but it soon became obvious that it was much more useful to produce strong penile erections. The drug was patented in 1996 and approved for erectile dysfunction two years later by the FDA.