Health
‘Viagra for Women’ Gets Push for F.D.A. Approval
One flibanserin tablet, a drug aimed at boosting female libido. (Allen G. Breed)
Andrew Pollack, THE NEW YORK TIMES
(The New York Times) — Is sexual desire a human right? And are women entitled to a little pink pill to help them feel it?
Those questions are being raised in a campaign that is pressing the Food and Drug Administration to approve a pill aimed at restoring lost libido in women. The campaign, backed by the drug’s developer and some women’s groups, accuses the F.D.A. of gender bias for approving Viagra and 25 other drugs to help men have sex, but none for women.
“Women have waited long enough,” the effort, known as Even the Score, says in an online petition that has gathered more than 40,000 signatures. “In 2015, gender equality should be the standard when it comes to access to treatments for sexual dysfunction.”
The drug, flibanserin, has been rejected twice by the F.D.A. on the grounds that its very modest effectiveness was outweighed by side effects like sleepiness, dizziness and nausea. The first rejection, in 2010, followed a decision by a committee of outside advisers to the agency who unanimously opposed approval.
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