Yep, it’s happening. There’s now Viagra just for the ladies. The new drug is called Addyi and it’s supposed to increase women’s sexual desire. The medical name for the drug, created by Sprout Pharmaceutical, is filbanserin.
The sketchy part of this new drug is that the FDA rejected it…twice…due to that fact there were way too many scary side effects and not enough benefits. Some of the side effects include drowsiness, nausea and dizziness; in addition, there are risks of hypotension and syncope, which means low blood pressure and fainting.
Despite this, the FDA apparently approved the little pink pill known as “pink Viagra” yesterday. However, it certainly doesn’t work the same way as Viagra. This pill specifically targets the brain instead of the genital organs. It was originally meant to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), which is a disorder where there is a loss of sexual desires or fantasies and there is no desire to engage in things that relate to sex.
Sprout Pharmaceutical describes Addyi as:
[A] once-daily, non-hormonal pill for the treatment of acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women. Addyi is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for this condition, the most common form of female sexual dysfunction, affecting up to 1 in 10 women in the United States. Flibanserin has been studied in more than 11,000 women … For premenopausal women with HSDD, Addyi has demonstrated improvements in desire for sex, reducing distress from the loss of sexual desire and increasing the number of satisfying sexual events.
The drug is supposed to be available by October 17, according to Sprout Pharmaceuticals.
Who wants a low sex drive? If there’s a pill that can get ladies more excited, that’s awesome. On the flip side, I don’t know if I fully believe that a pill can really magically change a women sex drive. To me, those side effects are just not worth it. Maybe there could be other avenues that could be taken to solve a problem like this? But, who knows. If the side effects didn’t make you flinch and you’re distressed by a low libido, then talk to your doctor and try it!
