Viagra may help treat oxygen-deprived newborns

Viagra, primarily known as an erectile dysfunction drug, may also help treat babies who run out of oxygen during pregnancy or at birth (neonatal encephalopathy), according to a study.

Options to treat oxygen-deprived newborns are limited. Therapeutic hypothermia is the only option used to prevent brain damage in such cases, but 29 per cent of babies who receive it still develop significant neurological sequelae.

A team of researchers at the Montreal Children's Hospital (MCH) in Canada, in a new clinical study showed that the administration of sildenafil, marketed under the brand name Viagra, could be a possible solution.

"This is the first proof-of-concept study to attempt to repair the brain damage caused by neonatal encephalopathy," said the team.

Using sildenafil in babies with such sequelae despite therapeutic hypothermia was found “feasible and safe”.

"Currently, when a baby has brain damage, there is little we can offer other than supportive care such as physiotherapy, occupational therapy or specialised care. If we had a drug that could repair the brain, it could change the future of these babies. It would be a victory for them, for their family and for society in general," said Pia Wintermark, neonatologist at the MCH.

Previous research in rat models showed that sildenafil can have neurorestorative properties in adult stroke patients. The team therefore thought of experimenting its effects on the brains of newborn babies.

The first phase of the clinical study involved 24 babies born at 36 weeks of gestation or more, with moderate to severe neonatal encephalopathy, who had been placed on therapeutic hypothermia and had brain damage despite treatment.

Of the group, eight received sildenafil starting on the second or third day of life, twice a day for seven days (total of 14 doses). A placebo was administered to three other babies.