11 babies die after pregnant women have received Viagra in a Dutch study

A clinical trial in the Netherlands to test the efficacy of Viagra administered to pregnant women whose fetuses had growth problems was stopped after the death of 11 babies. The researchers say that it appears that the drug, which stimulates blood circulation, may have caused damage to babies' lungs, eventually leading to their death.

"On the basis of these results, the study was stopped immediately". University Medical Center. "All participants were contacted personally and almost everyone was informed and now knew if they had taken the drug or placebo. All the women involved are best accompanied by the doctors involved in the study. "

The research carried out In ten hospitals in the Netherlands, 183 pregnant women whose babies had a severe limitation of growth at the beginning of pregnancy were taken care of. There is no known therapy to help these babies grow up, and their prognosis was considered mediocre. But the researchers thought that sildenafil, also known as Viagra, could help by stimulating blood circulation in the placenta.

Previous clinical trials in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand have found no evidence of harm. However, they have also documented no benefit. By the time the first studies were released in 2010, the researchers said the treatment should only be used in trials, BBC News reports.

In the Dutch study, 93 women received sildenafil and 90 received a placebo drug. From the sildenafil group, 19 babies died. Eleven of these deaths were due to possible lung disease, a form of high blood pressure in the lungs. Six other babies in the group had this lung disease but did not die.

In the placebo group, nine babies died, none had pulmonary disease. Three babies in the placebo group had lung disease, but did not die.

In his statement, Amsterdam UMC says that the "undesirable effects that were found were unknown so far." According to The Guardian, the gynecologist Wessel Ganzevoor, who was leading the research, told the Dutch daily De Volkskrant : "We wanted to show that this is an effective way of promoting the growth of sildenafil.I am shocked, the last thing you want is to hurt the patients."

The researchers say that they will continue to analyze the data and to closely monitor the children in the study.

Professor Zarko Alfirevic of the University of Liverpool, who led a portion of British research on sildenafil during pregnancy, said the results of the Dutch study were "unexpected".

"We have to be careful at this point to find out more," he told the BBC. "It needs a thorough investigation because the complications have not been seen in the other two similar tests that have already been done in the UK and in Australia and New Zealand."