Often dubbed Female Viagra, flibanserin works by acting on brain receptors

The Food & Drug Administration in America is all set to consider whether a new drug to treat female sexual dysfunction should be given the green light for marketing and sale. The drug called flibanserin which we have already written about at Ukmedix News was originally developed as an antidepressant but was noted to improve sexual desire in women as a side effect. Often dubbed Female Viagra, flibanserin works by acting on brain receptors which control libido.

Flibanserin which is owned by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim could be a huge financial blockbuster if it is given FDA approval and according to some female sexual health experts could do to women what Viagra did for men.

The FDA Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee which is meeting on June 18th to debate flibanserin will be presented evidence from a number of clinical trials involving over 5,000 premenopausal women between the age of 18 and 50.  The results of these trials showed that the number of women who reported satisfying sexual experiences on a monthly basis increased from an average of 2.7 to a statistically significant 4.5 compared with only 3.7 for those women given a placebo.

Michael Sand who leads the Boehringer Ingelheim research into flibanserin said that women should have options to deal with female sexual dysfunction because it had the capacity to cause serious psychological distress. He also said that flibanserin could be that "safe and effective option".

As we have often stressed at Ukmedix News, female sexual dysfunction is a much more complicated problem to deal with than male sexual dysfunction usually termed erectile dysfunction. Over 80 percent of men who have sexual dysfunction problems are able to cure them easily with the use of Viagra, Cialis and Levitra whereas at present the only drug for women approved for sale in the United Kingdom and in the EU is the drug Intrinsa.

Intrinsa which is a prescription medication has been effective in increasing satisfying sexual events in many women.