Female Viagra Still Under Pressure

You might already be up to date with the fact that US approved the bill now commonly known as female Viagra. But the approval of a pill which treats libido in women was never going to be something that people would not talk about. Ever since its approval, the pill and it purposes have been under constant bombardment of moral and ethical reasons.

Does the female Viagra address the real problems for not wanting to have sex with your partner? The pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration one week before and it will be sold under the name of Addyi beginning with October this year. Its aim is to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) and it has come 20 years of after the approval of Viagra.

Flibanserin will finally give women the option that men had up until now, but it had a really difficult journey before it got approved. Many people considered the Maryland promotion as “a heavy-handed and misleading public relations campaign”. And while opinions about it are so diverse, it did manage to pass the finish line and secure its spot on the pharmaceutical shelves.

The FDA approved flibanserin, but not after having rejected it twice in the past and expressing concern about the risks involved and rather certain results. One way of promoting it was by saying that women who are suffering from HSSD have an “unmet medical need”. In the end, the drug was bought Valeant, a Canadian pharmaceutical company. It will be used in Canada as well as in other countries.

The way the pill works in a very suspicious way. While we all know that Viagra stimulates blood flow to the penis, flibaserin’s first use was as an antidepressant, thus works on the brain. There are many specialists who argue that it is a drug made for the sake of having been made, trying to solve an issue via placebo and diverting attention from real solutions such as sex therapy or relationship counseling.

But this was to be expected either way. Such a subject which finds itself in between the unconventional and taboo was not going to pass by the public’s radar without being intercepted by divergent opinions. In the end, it is a conflict of interests. Some specialists want to get it out on the market, others suggest that it should be used by no one and people have yet to try it in significant numbers to have a final verdict.

Only time will tell if flibaserin is beneficial or not, but until then we only have opinions which we can occasionally reflect upon.

Photo Credits flickr.com