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In a new twist on uses for Viagra, doctors at the Montreal Children’s Hospital are giving some preemies the medication as part of a highly promising clinical trial.

Yes, you read that correctly.

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Although the diamond-shaped blue pill has long been marketed for male impotence, pediatricians have also been using it for more than a decade to treat pulmonary hypertension in infants. And a team of doctors at the Montreal Children’s is now testing it on premature babies suffering from birth asphyxia — a rare condition in which the brain is deprived of oxygen, causing learning and developmental difficulties.

The team has already proved that sildenafil — sold under the brand name of Viagra — can repair brain damage in lab rats born with the same condition. The results were so compelling that the researchers, led by neonatologist Pia Wintermark, applied for and obtained Health Canada approval to test the safety of the drug on infants in a Phase 1 clinical trial.