Flibanserin, originally an antidepressant, is effective in treating women with acquired hypoactive sexual desire disorder according to professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, John M. Thorpe.
The condition affects about 10 percent of all pre-menopausal women.
Women who took flibanserin, reported 22 percent more “satisfying sexual events” than those given a placebo reported Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH at the European Society for Sexual Medicine annual meeting in Lyon, France.
The trials were the first ever to test a therapy that works at the level of the brain to enhance libido in women reporting low sexual desire, Thorpe said.
Flibanserin blocks the release of serotonin, which regulates mood, appetite, sleep and memory, and should trigger the production of dopamine that helps stimulate desire.
Flibanserin is a long term treatment that takes three to six weeks to ‘kick in’. It is not an enhancing drug like Viagra.
“Flibanserin was a poor antidepressant,” Thorp said. “However, astute observers noted that it increased libido in laboratory animals and human subjects.”
“So, we conducted multiple clinical trials and the women in our studies who took it for hypoactive sexual desire disorder reported significant improvements in sexual desire and satisfactory sexual experiences,” Thorp said.
“Diminished desire or libido is the most common feminine sexual problem, like erectile dysfunction is in men.”
The prevalence of hypoactive sexual desire disorder ranges from 9 percent to 26 percent of US women, depending on age and menopausal status. Flibanserin is currently an investigational drug and is available only to women taking part in clinical trials.
The results reported here were presented Monday, Nov. 16, at the Congress of the European Society for Sexual Medicine in Lyon, France.
The study pooled data from four clinical trials of flibanserin from the U.S., Canada and Europe. 1,946 pre-menopausal women ages 18 and older were randomized to receive either flibanserin or placebo for 24 weeks.
4 weeks of pre-treatment baseline measurement and a 4 weeks of post-treatment follow-up occurred.
The trials that measured mean changes in six variables.
Compared to a placebo, 100 milligrams of flibanserin once a day improved the number of satisfying sexual events reported, sexual desire, reduced sex from sexual dysfunction and improved sexual functioning.
“These results point to a novel approach to pharmacologic treatment of the sexual problem that plagues reproductive age women the most, and may over time prove to be an effective treatment without the side effects of androgen replacement therapy, which is the only treatment currently available,” Thorp said.
However, flibanserin will not assist if the lack of desire is hormonal or because of a lousy relationship.
Decreased desire can stress a relationship. Research has shown that success or failure of sexuality influenced women’s long term self-esteem.
The trials were funded by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, the manufacturer of flibanserin.
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