“Female Viagra” Approved by FDA

[niyad]

“Female Viagra” Approved by FDA


Yesterday, the FDA approved the first drug to treat low or absent sexual desire in pre-menopausal women. Popularly known as “female Viagra,” the drug, Addyi, has created a clear divide in feminist circles. On one side of the debate are advocates for the drug. Many of them are part of Even the Score, a coalition that has framed the controversy surrounding the drug—which has been up for FDA approval a total of three times—as an issue of gender equality. They argue, for instance, that it is unfair that there has not been a treatment for women’s low libido, since Viagra and similar drugs for men have been approved for years—although these drugs treat erectile dysfunction, not decreased libido.
. . . . .
Critics, however, say that the drug’s risks—including low blood pressure, nausea and dizziness—don’t outweigh its benefits, which include an increase of no more than one “sexually satisfying event” per month. (WOW, ONE event per month--BOB works better than that!)

“This is a triumph of marketing over science,” says Cindy Pearson, executive director of the National Women’s Health Network. “Women don’t have enough information to accurately assess the risk of this drug.” She added that the FDA’s decision to require post-market studies of the drug “is feeble and unreliable” since “about half of all studies required by the FDA post-approval are never completed.”

In June, a governmental advisory committee recommended the FDA approve the drug. Prior to that meeting, the FDA had rejected the drug twice for not meeting risk-to-benefit ratio standards. The drug’s manufacturer, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, conducted a safety study after the drug was rejected a second time using mostly male participants (a drug for females, tested on males?? WTF?????); the drug was approved anyway.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2015/08/19/female-viagra-approved-by-fda/

[Agnosticsherbet]

1. About damned time.

[riversedge]

2. "conducted a safety study after the drug was rejected a second time using mostly male participants"

ummmm

[niyad]

3. are we surprised?

[Generic Other]

4. A new rape drug for the Cosby's of the world

I can almost predict it.

[niyad]

5. wouldn't be surprising.

[demmiblue]

6. Apples and orangutans.

I don't even know where to begin.

[Lee-Lee]

7. You clearly haven't read anything about it before making this ridiculous post

It functions along the lines of an antidepressant in altering/correcting brain chemistry. It would take weeks of daily use before effects are shown and it simply increased libido.

The idea this could be a "rape drug" is incredibly ignorant.

[Generic Other]

10. Women will be more likely to be coerced to take it

Needed or not.

Just thinking along the lines of some of the pervert men in this country.

[yellowcanine]

13. Or become the new "rape drug."

[Generic Other]

16. I was already labeled ridiculous upthread

for saying what you said. I just don't trust it. The drug was marketed originally to men who felt inadequate due to sexual dysfunction. It became a joke to even use the product. Many would never admit to using it because it would be seen as a weakness. Few would abuse it for the hell of it. With lackluster sales, the market shifts to women. Any sales pitch promoting a pill to arouse women will eventually be used as a tool against them. Just my opinion.

[yellowcanine]

14. 'The idea this could be a "rape drug" is incredibly ignorant.' Really?

If some creep thinks that it will boost libido of women do you really think he won't try this in an effort to make a women more susceptible to his "charms"? And then when that fails, he gets violent. You really think it won't be used that way? Rapists are not experts on brain chemistry.

[Generic Other]

17. Legal Spanish Fly

I agree with you YellowC. Big Pharma are not women's friends!

[yellowcanine]

18. Anyone who thinks this will not be used by rapists does not understand how they think.

Rapists think they are God's gift to women. All they need to do is convince the women. They will use any means at hand and this will be one more thing they will use.

[demmiblue]

19. Legal Spanish Fly... holy shite! Lol!

I think you need to research a little more about the subject.

[Generic Other]

20. Why? I don't intend to use the product

I feel fully functional as a woman, thank you.

[demmiblue]

21. Whoosh...

over your head and into the clouds!

[Generic Other]

22. As I said, I predict abuse of the product

And ridicule of women for expressing an opinion. Whoosh!

[demmiblue]

28. I am a woman.

I am simply insinuating that another woman may want to check out the pharmacology behind the drug before making specious claims.

It is not Cosby level drugs & it is not Spanish Fly in its application. There is NO connection with 'rape' drugs. There is almost no therapeutic value, for that matter. You have gone off on a tangent.

You are more than welcome to the last word.

[Lee-Lee]

33. Well lets see

It will require slipping a woman the drug for around 20-40 days, every day, before there is any noticeable effect. If there is

An effect that will be varied in time so hard to predict, may not happen, and when it does will not be aimed at a specific person but rather heighten interest in whomever she already would be inclined to be attracted to.

Talk about the worst idea for a rape drug ever....

[Marrah_G]

34. Funny- when Viagra came out no one said it would get men raped

Why is it so difficult for people to be okay with the fact that women have sexual needs also?

[Warren DeMontague]

37. one of the many ironies of the cosby situation is that he's a moralizing pompous prick, on the

subject of both sex AND drugs.

And by most accounts, whatever is wrong in his massively fucked up head goes beyond some libido enhancement or "spanish fly". He seems to prefer his victims totally unconscious.

[Vinca]

8. The outrage is that the FDA approved this drug to treat low libido.

It's an anti-depressant, not "female Viagra." But "big pharma" will rake in kazillions after they begin their advertising campaigns and that was the real desired result.

[demmiblue]

9. +1 (at the expense of women's health)

[DawgHouse]

11. ++1

[steve2470]

24. yep and here's info

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flibanserin

Flibanserin was originally developed as an antidepressant,[21][22] before being repurposed for the treatment of HSDD.

[Vinca]

29. Big pharma loves "repurposing." That's how male Viagra came about.

[DawgHouse]

30. That's right, lots of people forget about that!

Same with Bupropion. Long time marketed as an anti depressant (Wellbutrin) and then marketed as Zyban to help quit smoking.

Expect to pay much more for Zyban, even though they are the same thing.

[yellowcanine]

12. "Female viagra" is a misnomer.

Something designed to keep your johnson erect is in a different category from a libido booster. Actually, it appears to be more in line with snake oil aphrodisiac remedies sold on the internet. There is not much question that Viagra works as intended most of the time. But the evidence that this new drug for women works as intended is sketchy at best.

[B2G]

15. Another study suggests that

a shower, shave and turning off the TV was much more effective.

[tblue37]

27. And maybe helping with the kids and chores, so she has a bit more time and energy

left over and less resentment.

The most effective "foreplay" is ongoing and doesn't occur in bed. It occurs over coffee, while shopping, cooking, or cleaning together, while sharing interests and fun activities together.

I think people are unwise to pair up with someone whose libido is inherently and drastically incompatible with their own, but unless that is the real issue, then (barring illness), exhaustion, stress, and resentment are the main things that depress a partner's desire to have sex.

[niyad]

31. both of you, thank you so much for stating what is so frequently overlooked.

[Warren DeMontague]

35. assuming we're talking about adults, here

I suspect women can make up their own minds as to whether or not this is something they're interested in, to improve the quality of their lives, just as we trust women to make other health and reproductive choices.

[Eleanors38]

23. NPR did a show on this 2 mos. ago. The company pushing...

the drug had little luck with approval until a new P.R. outfit was hired to cast the drug's use in a feminist light which put pressure on the FDA to approve Addyi because men got theirs'. The place to look is the power base formed from this P.R. outfit.

How an ideology can come flying back up your tailpipe, like a heat-seeking missile.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

25. Interesting for pre-menopausal. Didn't think that there would be that

many women before menopause who would need it. Now after menopause would be a real achievement.

[Marrah_G]

26. Personally I would love to be able to use this drug

It is okay for women to enjoy sex and to want to enjoy sex and also to want to want to enjoy sex. Sometimes age, hormones or medicines stifle those things.

[niyad]

32. you are absolutely correct.

[Warren DeMontague]

36. Hey, an actual sane answer.

I've never needed viagra, either, but I don't think it's part of some conspiracy to force erections onto people.