Pill for female sex drive

Moral of the story: a possibly unnecessary an dangerous drug that targets female arousal.

Source: AMA Morning Rounds 5/24/2010

FDA advisory committee to consider approving pill designed to boost women's sex lives.
The Washington Post (5/24, Stein) reports, "A panel of federal advisers will soon" consider "endorsing the first pill designed to do for women what Viagra [sildenafil] did for men: boost their sex lives." The drug known as "flibanserin," which was developed by Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim, may become "the first prescription medication to tap what some have estimated could be a $2 billion market in the United States alone." But, "even before the FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee meets June 18 to consider the request, the prospect of the drug's approval has triggered debate over whether the medication, like others in the pipeline, represents a long-sought step toward equity for women's health or the latest example of the pharmaceutical industry fabricating a questionable disorder to sell unnecessary -- and potentially dangerous -- drugs."
The creator of a new documentary on "female sexuality" stumbled upon the issue while researching her film, Newsweek (5/23, Kantrowitz, Wingert) reported. Liz Canner "was bewildered by the purported disease" that some refer to as "female sexual dysfunction." Noting that Vivus executives told her that "43 percent of women had this disorder," Canner asked, "How could that be true if I had never heard of it before?" After "a cross-country quest that included visits with scientists, experts in erotica, and individual women," Canner "ultimately concluded that the catch-all female sexual dysfunction is essentially a phony disease made up by pharmaceutical companies."



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