The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the federal stamp of approval to the “female Viagra,” a little pink pill that’s supposed to be prescribed to women suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder, or HSDD.
HSDD, or a lack of libido, is somewhat common among premenopausal women.
The pill was previously rejected twice by the FDA, though an advisory panel of agency personnel did give a conditional OK to its production in June, with a vote of 18-6. The FDA usually follows the recommendations of its advisory committee members, and this time was no different. The agency cleared the way for medical officials to begin prescribing the drug flibanserin, dubbed the “female Viagra.”
The comparison to Viagra may not be medically on the mark. The male Viagra pill counters erectile dysfunction; flibanserin targets neurotransmitters in the brain to stimulate excitement, Time reported.
Side effects include sleepiness and nausea and 13 percent of women participating in clinical trials of the drug experienced these negative repercussions to such intensity they stopped taking the pill, Time said. And it’s for that reason that many aren’t cheering the FDA’s approval.
“I think it’s a disaster,” said Leonore Tiefer, a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at NYU School of Medicine, to Time. “It’s unsafe and it doesn’t work. That is all a drug is supposed to do.”
Others, however, say the pill will simply give medical providers and their female patients an option.
“Currently, there is no drug available in the U.S. for the treatment of HSDD and clinicians and patients are very interested in having access to an approved medication,” said Bob Barbieri, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to the news outlet. “Once the drug is available to clinicians and patients, the role of the drug in the treatment of HSDD will be better clarified.”
