Little Pill Might Boost Women's Sex Drive

It's the little pink pill with a decidedly unsexy name, Flibanserin, but if the Food and Drug Administration approves it to enhance the female libido, it could translate into a $2 billion market in this country alone, CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton reports.

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Next week, an FDA panel will vote whether to recommend approval of Flibanserin, which some are calling female viagra. Dr. Bruce Levine of Phoenix OBGYN Associates sees many women desperate to treat their low sex drive.

"'My husband wants to know if I still love him; my husband wants to know if I love someone else,'" Levine said some of his patients tell him. "These are very real questions."

The pill is designed to treat a condition identified in an estimated 10 percent to 30 percent of women as hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD.

It's defined by lack of sexual desire or fantasies, causing emotional distress, a rather vague diagnosis.

"What we don't know is what's normal versus what's not normal," said Levine. "You can't label someone who has a low sex drive necessarily as abnormal."

Because of that, critics say creating a pharmaceutical solution is driven by greed.

"We call that disease mongering, creating a disease when there is no disease in order to sell an expensive product," said Leonore Tiefer of New York University's School of Medicine. "There are a lot of inexpensive products like a glass of wine or a massage."

Alicia, a patient who didn't want to be identified, said she thought something was wrong with her. After losing her sex drive completely, she was desperate and signed up for a clinical trial of the drug.

"I would say it's definitely improved," Alicia said. "I find myself initiating things more when I feel like I'm ready to have sex."

Unlike the blockbuster drugs for men, like Viagra, which improve blood flow, Flibanserin is an anti-depressant that works on the pleasure center of the brain.

The pill, however, comes with side effects, which include insomnia, nausea and dizziness. As always, women will need to decide whether the risks versus the benefits compared to other treatment alternatives are worth it for them.

More Coverage of Flibanserin

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Study: "Female Viagra" Flibanserin Works
New Drug May Be Female Viagra