"Originally developed as an anti-depressant by the German company Boehringer Ingelheim, flibanserin had instead shown promise as a treatment for low female libido, working on neurotransmitters in the so-called sex center of the brain. In a video from that trial filmed by Dr Irwin Goldstein, the godfather of sexual medicine and a key consultant on Viagra that revolutionary blue pill for men with erectile dysfunction Gattuso appears nearly giddy."
"the road to get flibanserin often called, somewhat derisively, the female Viagra to women struggling with their libido was anything but obvious, strewn with regulatory roadblocks, pharmaceutical price-gouging, sexist double standards and a profound societal disinterest in female choice, pleasure and experience."
Barbara Gattuso experienced a mysterious loss of sexual desire during perimenopause despite a previously fulfilling marriage. She enrolled in a clinical trial for flibanserin, an experimental drug originally developed as an antidepressant that showed promise treating low female libido by affecting neurotransmitters in the brain's sex center. Early trial results appeared promising, with Gattuso reporting dramatic improvements in her desire and quality of life. However, the path to FDA approval for flibanserin, marketed as Addyi, proved far more complicated than expected. The drug faced significant regulatory hurdles, pharmaceutical pricing issues, and broader societal indifference to female sexual health and pleasure, revealing deep systemic inequities in how female sexual dysfunction is addressed compared to male erectile dysfunction treatments.
#female-sexual-health #pharmaceutical-regulation #gender-inequality-in-medicine #flibanserinaddyi #sexual-dysfunction-treatment
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]