There have been other attempts to enhance women's sexual desire with testosterone before Lybridos. A testosterone patch from Procter & Gamble called Intrinsa was submitted to the FDA but rejected in 2004. Intrinsa produced only "small improvements in sexual parameters and large placebo responses," said a review that proved a nail in the drug's coffin. "Unwanted side effects are common and not always reversible," said another review.
Still, some women do report increased sexual desire when taking on testosterone. "This stuff is great if your libido has gone AWOL," wrote a 39-year-old woman on the drug rating site Askapatient.com.
Lybrido and Lybridos have another perk, according to their manufacturer, if and when they are approved: they will help the large number of women with antidepressant-linked sexual dysfunction. Nearly one in four women between the ages of 50 and 64 is on antidepressants and both older and new antidepressants can cause anorgasmia, the inability to achieve orgasm, even with adequate stimulation.
Some women are less concerned about the lack of a Pink Viagra than the medicalizing of female sexuality and/or labeling of it as dysfunctional. For example, for insurance companies to pay for female sex enhancement drugs if they are approved, women would have to be diagnosed with "hypoactive sexual desire disorder," a condition found in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. HSDD is defined as "the persistent or recurrent lack (or absence) of sexual fantasies or desire for any form of sexual activity." Who makes that decision, ask some women? For too long women's sexuality--whether considered too intense or too weak--has been defined by men.
"I have long had a problem with the tendency of the healthcare system, aided and abetted by the pharmaceutical industry, to diagnose as a problem a symptom or sign experienced by the majority of people," wrote Ingrid Nygaard, M.D. Obstetrics & Gynecology.
Women also voice concerns about drug safety. "There is nothing sexist about ensuring that a drug is adequately effective and safe before approving it for marketing," says Barbara Mintzes, PhD, associate professor in the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia. She is co-author of Sex, Lies, and Pharmaceuticals: How Drug Companies Plan to Profit from Female Sexual Dysfunction.
If the lack of a female Viagra "were gender bias, we would be yelling and screaming," said Cindy Pearson, executive director of the National Women's Health Network." The problem is the drugs. Our biology is so much more complicated than men's."
What is Next in The Post-Viagra World?
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