The U.S Food and Drug Administration yesterday evening approved the world’s first drug designed to increase a woman’s desire for sex, a condition that affects 10% of U.S. women population.
The go-ahead given to the controversial drug, flibanserin, that the FDA rejected twice prior to this will now be marketed as Addyi. The drug can be sold with a series of conditions that reflect the FDA’s concerns about it’s serious side effects. These conditions include, a boxed warning that highlights the risks of low blood pressure and fainting in patients who drink alcohol while taking the drug, as well as a requirement that doctors complete a training course before being allowed to prescribe it.
Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, said in a statement “Because of a likely serious interaction with alcohol, treatment with Addyi will only be available through certified health care professionals and pharmacies. Patients and prescribers should fully understand the risks associated with the use of Addyi before considering it for treatment.”
Supporters of the drug praised the decision as an end to what they called ‘gender bias’ at the FDA, giving women more options and enable them to take control over their waning sexual lives. Critics however, said the approval of what few call a “mediocre aphrodisiac” with scary side effects has now changed the normal range of women’s low sexual desire into a kind of disease, with pharmaceutical companies too eager to swiftly catch in.
