Lack of sex drive in women has long been a predicament for years. Now, a new pill has been gaining popularity that could treat female sexual dysfunction. It is expected to be approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and will be the first drug of its kind in the market.
However, until now, there is no clear statement from the US FDA if they would approve the said drug any time soon following series of debates and controversies on women and sex in the country. Many pro-women organizations question the existence of a variety of sexual enhancement drugs for men, and none for women.
The drug is called Flibanserin as reported by ABC News. According to Cindy Whitehead, founder of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company that is producing the drug, they have been fighting for its approval for three years now.
"Men have a number of treatment options for sexual dysfunction. We haven't yet gotten to one for women's most common dysfunction," Sprout said. In fact, according to her, there are 25 approved drugs for male sexual dysfunction disorders while none are available for women.
"Up until now, the treatment paradigm for women with sexual dysfunction has essentially been: Let's take a drug that works in men and let's see if it works in women," she added.
Many are comparing the new drug to Viagra. However, flibanserin, is different from viagra's mechanism of action. Viagra increases blood flow to the genitals while flibanserin targets a part of the body far from the genitals, the brain.
Whitehead explains the mechanism of action of their flagship drug, which shifts the balance of three key brain chemicals in the brain to achieve desire. However, FDA has rejected the drug twice saying that there wasn't much evidence that it actually works. Also, they questioned the safety of the drug if it will be used long-term.
Whitehead said that it is vital to find women who really suffer from HSDD (Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder) and not just from mere boredom. According to Medscape and the National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS), they assessed sexual functioning among men and women in the United States in 1999 and they reported that 43% of women experience some type of sexual dysfunction compared to only 31% of men.
