New pill to ‘increase women’s sex drive’

In what could be the biggest money-maker since Viagra, Maker Sprout pharmaceuticals claim that their wonder drug doubles the number of ‘satisfying sexual events’ for women.

Flibanserin works on the brain - boosting the chemicals that lead to sexual desire.

But it hasn’t bee certified for use in the UK yet, and was rejected twice in America, based on the fact it has side-effects such as drowsiness.

Cindy Whitehead who works at Maker Sprout highlighted the difference between male and female products on the market.

‘Men have a number of treatment options for sexual dysfunction. We haven’t yet gotten to one for women’s most common dysfunction.’

‘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.’

Unlike vigra, the commonly prescribed drug that increases blood flow to the genitals, allowing successful sex acts to take place, flibanserien works on the brain and its chemicals.

As Whitehead explains, it increases ‘excitatory factors for sex’ - dopamine and norepinphrine - while decreasing serotonin, which can quell the sex drive.

But the fact that the drug has yet to be approved over worries of its effectiveness, has caused many women’s rights groups outrage.

‘We live in a culture that has historically discounted the importance of sexual pleasure and sexual desire for women,’ says Terry O’Neill from the National Organization for Women.

‘And I fear that it’s that cultural attitude that men’s sexual health is extremely important, but women’s sexual health is no so important. That’s the cultural attitude that I was to be sure the FDA has now, maybe unconsciously, imported into its deliberative process.’

The FDA deny this is true, and say their concerns are purely based on whether the drug works, and if it has dangerous side effects.

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