'Female Viagra' Was Just Approved by The FDA Despite "Skimpy Peer-Reviewed Data" [View all]

[Eugene]

Source: Washington Post via Science Alert

'Female Viagra' Was Just Approved by The FDA Despite "Skimpy Peer-Reviewed Data"

ARIANA EUNJUNG CHA AND LAURIE MCGINLEY, THE WASHINGTON POST
22 JUN 2019

The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved sales of a new drug intended to enhance sexual desire in women.

Marketed as Vyleesi, also known as bremelanotide, the medication is a shot that comes in a push pen device that can be self-administered as needed for premenopausal women who experience distress as a result of low sexual desire.

"There are women who, for no known reason, have reduced sexual desire that causes marked distress, and who can benefit from safe and effective pharmacologic treatment," Hylton Joffe, director of the FDA Center for Drug Evaluation and Research's Division of Bone, Reproductive and Urologic Products, said in a statement.

-snip-

The FDA acknowledged that it's not clear how Vyleesi acts in the brain to affect sexual desire or distress. It advises women to use no more than one dose in 24 hours or eight a month.

And there's disagreement about whether drugs are the right approach — low sexual desire can be a result of numerous psychological, physiological or external factors, including stress — and how widespread the condition really is.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.sciencealert.com/female-viagra-was-approved-by-the-fda-despite-skimpy-peer-reviewed-data

______________________________________________________________________

Original WaPo link: A new ‘female Viagra’ approved by FDA despite skepticism