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FDA Panel Backs 'Pink Viagra' Pill to Increase Women’s Sex Drive

Government health experts are backing an experimental drug intended to boost the female sex drive, but stress that it must carry safety restrictions to manage side effects including fatigue, low blood pressure and fainting.

The Food and Drug Administration panel voted 18-6 in favor of approving Sprout Pharmaceutical’s daily pill flibanserin, on the condition that its manufacturer develops a plan to limit safety risks.

The positive recommendation is a major victory for a drug sometimes hailed as “female Viagra,” but which has been plagued by for years by concerns about its lackluster effectiveness and safety issues. The FDA has twice rejected the drug since 2010.

 

(Photo: Getty Images)

Female sexual dysfunction is a term used to describe a persistent, recurring problem with sexual response or desire that distresses a woman or strains her relationship with her partner, according to the  Mayo Clinic. It includes vaginal dryness, difficulty reaching orgasm, a lack of libido, as well as distress related to the dysfunction. It can occur at any stage of a woman’s life and may be ongoing or sporadic.

Related: Why Is There Still No Female Viagra?

Some women also have difficulty shutting off the multitasking part of their brain during sex, which can also cause sexual dysfunction, says Irwin Goldstein, MD, director of sexual medicine at Alvarado Hospital in San Diego and president-elect of the International Society for the Study of Women’s Sexual Health.

While male sexual dysfunction has received a lot of attention in recent years, women experience it just as much as, if not more than, men. “Sexual dysfunction is actually more common in women than in men,” says Goldstein. He tells Yahoo Health that an estimated 43 percent of women will report experiencing sexual dysfunction at some point, compared with 31 percent of men.

Related: Is Pink Viagra a ‘Sham Drug’? Top Experts Think So

But women’s sexual health experts also seem to be divided on flibanserin itself. In a press release given to Yahoo Health, a coalition of women’s organizations including the National Women’s Health Network and the Seattle Institute for Sex Therapy, Education, and Research says flibanserin has “weak effectiveness relative to placebo” and an “unacceptable safety profile.”

A decision by the FDA is expected in August.

- with additional reporting by The Associated Press and Korin Miller

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