There is good news for men who routinely use Viagra to treat erection problems: Since Viagra came off patent, the generic form, sildenafil, made by legitimate drug manufactures, has been becoming widely available at lower and lower prices.

This is a godsend, because Viagra originally cost $60 a pill, making it unaffordable for huge numbers of men who could have been helped by it.

Medicare used to allow only four pills a month. So if you weren’t rolling in money, Medicare essentially was rationing sex for couples in which an older man was suffering with ED.

For many years, Viagra has been the most counterfeited drug in the world. But many of the phony versions available online were adulterated with dangerous substances such rat poison or blue ink, so it was dangerous to be taking them. Now you can buy legitimate sildenafil for much less.

Even when the original patent expired, drug manufactures kept the prices for the little blue pill high — around $30 a pill in December of 2017.

But now that many respected manufacturers are making sildenafil, the prices have gone down dramatically.

If you take sildenafil, do some investigation of costs through different pharmacies and services. For instance, getting the drug through your regular pharmacy or through Medicare may cost more than if you purchased it using a service like GoodRx (with whom I have no affiliation.)

The lowest GoodRx price for the most common version of sildenafil 50 mg or 100 mg is 30 pills for around $35. That would have cost about $1,800 five years ago.

So be smart when you shop for generic Viagra. And you should also know that in many cases, sildenafil might not be the best long-term solution for ED problems.