Seen At 11: Could A Little Pink Pill Be The Answer To Low Sex Drive In Women?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- For years, men have had Viagra and other drugs to improve their sex lives.
Now, there's a little pink pill to help women, but the question is: why can't they get it?
As CBS2's Dr. Max Gomez reported, you can't turn on the TV these days without being inundated by ads for sexual performance drugs -- drugs that are all for men because there are none for women.
"I feel like we deserve to have the same thing for women, absolutely," one woman said.
Doctors diagnosed Amanda Parrish with hypoactive sexual desire disorder, a low sex drive.
"It got to where I'd be one of those women who would try to maybe be asleep before he got to bed," she said.
But Parrish took part in a clinical trial for a drug called Flibanserin, designed to increase sex drive by altering chemicals in the brain. She said it got her sex life with her husband back on track.
"It was just a light switch in my head that had been turned off, and once it got turned on things were fine," she said.
The drug maker, Sprout, said 45 percent of women who took the drug experienced increased desire, slightly more than the 35 percent taking the placebo, Dr. Gomez reported.
That was not enough for the Federal Drug Administration. They've rejected the drug twice, concluding the benefits did not outweigh the side effect, including sleepiness, dizziness and nausea.
"We're not talking about significant, life threatening side effects," said Dr. Bat Shava Marcus.
Dr. Marcus, who treats women with sexual dysfunction, disagrees with the FDA and says the benefits do outweigh the risks.
"Women are smart consumers," he said. "They're not going to use it if the side effects are miserable."
But men using sexual performance drugs have experienced even more serious side effects, including sudden vision loss and a dangerous drop in blood pressure if combined with certain other drugs.
Still, some say the FDA is right to be cautious.
"I don't it's completely unreasonable that we have a high bar for safety when we are looking at drugs for low libido for men and women," said Dr. Jan Shifren, with Massachusetts General Hospital.
Right now, the manufacturer is again asking for FDA approval, and Parrish hopes the third time is the charm.
"I'll be the first in line to get it," she said.
The FDA decision is expected in about 6 months.
In a statement, the FDA said it could not comment on a drug it's considering. But did say it continues to advance important areas of women's health, including disorders of female sexual function, CBS2 reported.
