History

ED treatment attempts dating back to over 1,000 years. People of Ancient Rome and Greece wore rooster and goat genitalia talismans in the 8th century, claiming these talismans would double as aphrodisiacs and encourage sexual function. Albertus Magnus advocated consumption of roasted wolf penis as a cure for impotence during the 13th century. 

Male impotence was considered a felony in France during the late 16th and 17th centuries, as were legal reasons for a divorce. The custom, which included court expert examination of the claimants, was ruled obscene in 1677.

Vincent Marie Mondat invented the first efficient vacuum erection apparatus, or penis pump, in the early 1800s. In the 1970s Geddings Osbon, a Pentecostal preacher, created a more sophisticated system, built on a bicycle pump. He got FDA clearance in 1982 to market the drug as the ErecAid ®. 

In the 1920s and 1930s, John R. Brinkley launched a boom in US male impotence remedies. His radio programmes, including operations by surgeon Serge Voronoff, recommended expensive goat gland implants and "mercurochrome" injections as the path to restored manly virility.

Current ED drug treatment made considerable strides in 1983, when British physiologist Giles Brindley dropped his pants and showed his papaverine-induced erection to a stunned Urodynamics Society audience. The Brindley drug injected into his penis was a non-specific vasodilator, an alpha-blocking agent, and the mechanism of action was simply body-smooth relaxation of the muscles. The effect discovered by Brindley laid the groundwork for the later development of unique, safe, and orally effective drug therapies. 

In 1999 Pfizer launched the new first-line treatment for ED, the oral PDE5 inhibitor.