The drug aptly dubbed “female Viagra,” which will reportedly help women ramp up their sexual drive, may have inched its way closer to the marketplace. An advisory committee voted Thursday to recommend to the Food and Drug Administration that the drug be approved, the Washington Post reports.
The FDA sometimes heeds the recommendations given it by advisory committees and sometimes it doesn’t, the Post explains. It has twice rejected the release of flibanserin—the female counterpart to Viagra—citing the drug’s severe side effects that may outweigh its benefits.
Women who take flibanserin, the FDA has previously argued, may experience fainting, nausea, dizziness, sleepiness and low blood pressure—possible effects that may not be worth the increase in a woman’s sexual desire that the drug is purported to trigger.
Aside from the side effects, the FDA is not completely sold on the ability of the drug to fully deliver on its promise, calling the benefits “moderate” and “marginal.” Yet an advisory committee, after hearing stories from women who suffer from hypoactive sexual desire disorder—low sexual desire—voted 18-6 that the FDA ought to give “female Viagra” the green light.
The FDA is expected to announce its decision on flibanserin by the end of the summer.
Read more at the Washington Post.