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Women taking part in trials reported significant improvements in sexual desire and experiences
Viagra
'Viagra for women' discovery claim
An experimental drug that failed in its intended function as an antidepressant is being hailed as "Viagra for women" following surprising side effects.
Flibanserin was shown to have little value as a treatment for depression, but in three separate trials it increased the sex drive of women taking part. The discovery is similar to that of sildenafil, the failed treatment for hypertension and heart disease that was found to cure erectile dysfunction and later marketed as Viagra.
The American research, funded by manufacturer Boehringer and Ingelheim and involving 2,000 women in the US, Canada and Europe, was presented at a conference of the European Society for Sexual Medicine in Lyon, France. Lead researcher Professor John Thorp, of the University of North Carolina, told the meeting: "Flibanserin was a poor antidepressant. However, astute observers noted that it increased libido in laboratory animals and human subjects. So we conducted multiple clinical trials."
Women complaining of poor libido who took 100mg of flibanserin once a day reported significant improvements in their sexual desire and experiences, Thorp said. "It's essentially a Viagra-like drug for women in that diminished desire or libido is the most common feminine sexual problem, like erectile dysfunction is in men."
