Women with low sex drive now have a little pink pill to help them.
Although the newly approved medication, Addyi – the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for sexual dysfunction in women – has been widely labeled “female Viagra,” that is a misnomer, a top sex counselor tells Newsmax Health.
“Every woman with low desire would love to pop a pill that would boost her sex life, but when you look at this pill, I don’t think this is the one,” Dr. Aline P. Zoldbrod, a certified sex therapist based in Boston, tells Newsmax Health.
Although Addyi (flibanserin) is being compared to the men’s sex pill Viagra, there are sharp differences, noted Dr. Zoldbrod, a licensed psychologist and an adjunct faculty member at the University of Michigan Sexual Health Certificate Program.
Viagra, which is taken shortly before sex, is a vasodilator that helps men get erections by widening their blood vessels.
Addyi must be taken every day and it’s action is completely different. It acts on brain chemicals associated with mood and appetite, similar to antidepressant drugs. In fact, it was originally studied as depression treatment before being repurposed into a female libido drug.
It’s not entirely clear why the drug increases sexual desire in women, but researchers point to its ability to increase dopamine, a brain chemical associated with appetite, while lowering serotonin, a chemical linked with feelings of satiation.
“For women, sexual dysfunction is very different than it is in men,” said Dr. Zoldbrod. “Women’s desire is dependent on many factors. Female sex drive is very complicated and much less straightforward than it is in men.”
Addyi is likely to be useful for only a small number of women, she said. And even among that group, safety concerns are likely to make the drug unappealing, Dr. Zoldbrod said.
The drug’s drawbacks are many, including the fact that it must be taken daily, unlike Viagra and the other men’s erectile dysfunction drugs that are taken on demand. This increases the potential of side effects as well as cost, Dr. Zoldbrod noted.
Also, the drug doesn’t work particularly well.
Most experts have described its effect as “modest.” A clinical trial showed that women, after taking Addyi for a month, increased their number of satisfying sexual events by one per month.
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