In the second episode of the three-part series of hard produced by R.W. and Y.C. colleagues

at Death, Sex, and Money, the team dive into the scientific advancements that led up

to Viagra's FDA approval in 1998.

From an unforgettable conference presentation to an overnight drug study where an unexpected

side effect kept popping up.

Also, the intentionality around the early marketing of Viagra when former Senate Majority

leader Bob Dole encouraged men to summon the bravery to talk to their doctors and how

that message shifted over years.

Here's the SM host Anna Sail.

What was it like being able to talk with men who had struggled with erectile dysfunction

and tried to manage it as a mental health problem that you were able to say to them, actually,

there's something going on physiologically that I think we can help you out with.

It's like they won the lottery.

I mean, you're not a man and you don't have a penis, but when it doesn't work, you challenge

all aspects of your ego, your being, your self-worth.

You say, what did I do?

My guilty is something.

What did I do wrong?

I'm Anna Sail, and this is hard.

A series from Death, Sex, and Money about Viagra.

Men worry about their erections all the time.

The erectile dysfunction.

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