Viagra helps boy with lung disease
Last Updated Mon, 10 Jan 2005 15:18:52 EST
CBC News
HAMPTON, N.B. - A New Brunswick boy is getting help for his lung condition from an unexpected source – Viagra.

Braden Gendron
Braden Gendron, 6, has pulmonary hypertension, or PH, a rare and usually fatal condition affecting the lungs and heart. The only cure is a lung transplant.

Braden takes small doses of Viagra, a drug normally prescribed for erectile dysfunction, to increase blood flow to the lungs and help him breathe.

His mother said it was the best option his doctors offered.

"They told us we could try him on either Flolan, which is an IV drug. He would have to wear a pack continuously... Or they could try a new drug, which was the Viagra," said Jennifer Gendron.

Doctors have been using Viagra as a treatment for PH for several years and have found it can stabilize about half of patients.

"What we have seen is that with our small group of patients here in Toronto... some patients actually do quite well over a year, some patients even longer," said Dr. Tilman Humpl, Braden's heart specialist at the Hospital for Sick Children.

Braden takes four small doses of Viagra every day. His father Dan cuts each pill in half.

Dr. Tilman Humpl
But even the small amount of drug is having dramatic results.

"In the springtime, he rode his bike. We were really surprised because we didn't think we'd see him do that again," said Jennifer.

However, because treatment for PH isn't an approved use of Viagra in Canada, neither drug insurance nor government programs will cover the cost of the drug, about $420 a month.

Pfizer, maker of Viagra, says it is talking with drug regulators about approving the drug for other purposes.