Satisfying urges: World’s first ‘female Viagra’ could spark sex drug boom

Most women with low sexual desire won’t rush to get the first prescription drug to boost female libido when it becomes available on Saturday. But they may have more options down the road. Addyi - the so-called 'female Viagra’ - is a daily medication that can’t be taken with alcohol or certain other drugs, which will likely limit its use. But experts believe those restrictions could spur development of better treatments for women’s sexual problems after more than a decade of neglect by most of the world’s large drugmakers.

It’s going to have a limited patient audience because of the alcohol restrictions and the fact that you have to take it every day.

Dr. Lisa Dabney, Mt Sinai Hospital, New York

Kim Wallen, a psychology professor at Emory University, says Addyi represents a historic milestone that may open the door to more drugs targeting desire in men and women. “This is the first time that a drug, for either men or women, has been approved strictly to increase sexual desire,” Wallen says. Amanda Parrish, 52, had been married for three years when she realised she was avoiding sex with her husband. Nothing worked until Parrish enrolled in a trial of Addyi, which was studied in women who report distress owing to a lack of libido. "It just brought me back to where I was as far as being flirty and playful,“ says Parrish, who lives in Nashville.

I went back to the days of leaving notes on his window, in his car, on his mirror in the morning.

Amanda Parrish sings the praises of Addyi

Health libido