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Addyi, a drug that treats low sex drive in women, gained FDA approval after five years and two previous rejections.
The pink pill — formerly known by its generic name, flibanserin — will hit pharmacy shelves on Oct. 17 and will be comparable in price to Viagra, the blockbuster pill that helps men get and maintain erections. Addyi’s manufacturer, Sprout Pharmaceuticals of Raleigh, North Carolina, will immediately begin educational initiatives to teach doctors about the drug and the controversial condition it’s meant to treat, dubbed hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).
“It’s been a long journey,” Cindy Whitehead, CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, told BuzzFeed News.
Addyi’s approval, Whitehead contends, is a win for feminism. “I’m hopeful not only for what it could mean for women in which it could work, but also for women at large,” she said. “This marks a real shift in our conversations around women’s sexuality.”
This provocative focus on feminism has been a pivotal part of Sprout’s strategy since 2014, when it formed a Washington, D.C., advocacy group called Even the Score. This group is funded partly by Sprout and, according to many experts, was hugely influential in getting Addyi past the FDA.
Even the Score has provided journalists the world over (including BuzzFeed News) with select patient testimonies about HSDD, gotten prominent women’s groups to call the FDA sexist, and convinced congresswomen to write letters to the agency.
Read full, original post: How Big Pharma Used Feminism To Get The “Female Viagra” Approved
