‘Female viagra’ gets FDA approval
Flibanserin, a new drug supporting women suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD), is now available at physician’s offices and online via Addyi.
Created by Sprout Pharmaceuticals under the brand name Addyi, the FDA-approved drug is the first of its kind in the market for treating women’s sexual dysfunction. Support groups and experts alike have voiced support for the drug, hailing it as “the biggest breakthrough in women’s sexual health since the advent of ‘The Pill’” for contraception.”
The National Consumers League said further in a statement that “it validates (and) legitimizes female sexuality as an important component of health.”
About Addyi
The pink pill is the first to hit the American market as a means to treat HSDD — a condition where people have extremely low or entirely lack sexual desire.
In the United States, 20 percent of women report suffering from this disorder, expressing further concerns about how it’s impacting their relationships negatively. It manifests in women as low sexual desire that is not due to a co-existing medical, emotional, or psychiatric condition.
Flibanserin works by regulating several brain chemicals that affect sexual desire, namely dopamine and norepinephrine. As noted in FDA briefing documents, it is a post-synaptic 5HT1A receptor agonist and 5HT2A receptor antagonist and has action in the central nervous system. Unlike its male equivalent, Viagra, flibanserin is not a hormonal drug and does not affect blood flow.
Addyi in Action
Personal accounts from users of Addyi hail its effectiveness in improving their libido and mood. In an article published in People, Debra Dillo shared her personal experience with the drug that she now calls her “happy pill.”
Lamenting the decline in her libido due to aging (58 years old at the time of writing), Debra sought Addyi as an aid for revitalizing her marriage and feeling healthier physically and mentally. So, she hopped on a telephone consult, quickly got a prescription for the pink pill, and started taking it religiously.
After two weeks, Debra reported a mood boost and “started waking up after sleeping all night long and feeling really happy.” She reports that she’s never felt younger and “more like my 20-year-old self than I do a 38-year-old self!” Today, she and her husband Todd report having a vibrant sex life, and Debra raves about being “in the mood” all the time.
Debra’s case is one of many accounts that share experiences similar to Addyi’s. With the traction and support it’s gaining, Addyi is poised to improve the lives and sexual health of many more women who have not been able to access help in decades.
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