New evidence shows that Viagra helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. This is based on two clinical trials and lab evidence explained below. This review was based on this article published March 1, 2024 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.
Evidence that Viagra helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease
The research involved data from the MarketScan Medicare Supplemental database (2012-2017) as well as the Clinformatics database (2007-2020). The investigators searched for patients with pharmacy claims for Viagra or four control drugs (bumetanide, furosemide, spironolactone, and nifedipine). The MarketScan trial followed patients for 5 years, the Clinformatics trial for 13 years. There was a 54% reduction in the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in the MarketScan trial. With regard to the Clinformatics trial there was a 30% reduction of prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. Other research showed that vitamin D3 supplementation can reduce Alzheimer’s disease by about 40%.
Other studies
One other study showed similar findings: Men who were prescribed Viagra for erectile dysfunction and followed for 5 years developed 18% less Alzheimer’s than controls. In contrast another study found no evidence of Viagra on the prevalence of Alzheimer’s disease. But there was a specific patient selection, namely the patients of this study were patients with pulmonary hypertension. Physicians prescribed Viagra to lower their blood pressure in the pulmonary circulation. On the other hand, Viagra was noted to improve memory function in a mouse model.
Tau hyperphosphorylation reduced by Viagra
Researchers also investigated pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived neurons from sporadic and familial Alzheimer patients in vitro. Specifically, they showed that sildenafil reduces tau hyperphosphorylation (pTau181 and pTau205) in a dose-dependent manner. Dose-response curves in research are an important tool to show specific effects. In this case the findings strongly support the notion that Viagra inhibits tau protein synthesis, which in turn prevents Alzheimer’s disease.
Feixiong Cheng, PhD, director of the Cleveland Clinic Genome Center, who led the research, said: “We believe our findings provide the evidence needed for clinical trials to further examine the potential effectiveness of sildenafil in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
Viagra Helps to Prevent Alzheimer’s Disease
Conclusion
New evidence shows that Viagra helps to prevent Alzheimer’s disease. This is based on two clinical trials and lab evidence. One trial followed patients for 5 years, the other one for 13 years. In the first trial there was a 54% reduction of the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease, in the second trial a reduction of 30%.In an unrelated study men received a prescription for Viagra for erectile dysfunction. They was a follow-up for 5 years and they developed 18% less Alzheimer’s disease than controls. The chief investigator said that there was enough clinical and lab data to warrant “clinical trials to further examine the potential effectiveness of sildenafil in patients with Alzheimer’s disease.”
