'Female Viagra' pill a failure in tests
(Male Viagra)
A pink pill designed to offer women a counterpart to Viagra (in blue, photo shown above)failed to boost female sex drive in two studies, U.S. drug reviewers said in documents released last June 16th, Wednesday.
Drugmakers have long sought to tap a potentially lucrative market for a medication to boost a woman's libido. Viagra and other male impotence drugs have failed to help women.
Boehringer is seeking FDA approval to sell its pill by prescription for treating premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, defined as a lack of sex drive in otherwise healthy women.
The proposed brand name is Girosa. It is not yet approved anywhere in the world.
Nearly 15 percent of women who took the recommended flibanserin dose stopped taking it before the study ended due to possible side effects, FDA staff added.
Flibanserin acts on neurotransmitters in the brain and was originally tested as an antidepressant. FDA reviewers recommended that the drug, if approved, carry a warning required for all antidepressants about risks of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and young adults.
Drugmakers have long sought to tap a potentially lucrative market for a medication to boost a woman's libido. Viagra and other male impotence drugs have failed to help women.
Boehringer is seeking FDA approval to sell its pill by prescription for treating premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, defined as a lack of sex drive in otherwise healthy women.
The proposed brand name is Girosa. It is not yet approved anywhere in the world.
Nearly 15 percent of women who took the recommended flibanserin dose stopped taking it before the study ended due to possible side effects, FDA staff added.
Flibanserin acts on neurotransmitters in the brain and was originally tested as an antidepressant. FDA reviewers recommended that the drug, if approved, carry a warning required for all antidepressants about risks of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children and young adults.
January 18, 2011 at 3:19 AM
In three separate trials, the drug flibanserin did wonders for women's flagging sex drive despite doing nothing to lift mood. The accidental discovery is akin to Viagra's - it was originally designed as a heart medicine but failed. The US work was presented at a sexual medicine meeting in Lyon, France.