24 May 2009

US 'Viagra scientist' dies at 92

3:13 pm on 24 May 2009

An American scientist whose work helped lead to the development of the anti-impotency drug Viagra has died.

Robert F. Furchgott, who was 92, shared the Nobel Prize in 1998 for his work showing that the gas nitric oxide played an important role in the cardiovascular system.

The discovery that the gas could help enlarge blood vessels was a factor in the development of Viagra by the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.