The Science Behind the Female Libido Pill

How does Addyi work in HSDD?
What does finally receiving FDA approval for Addyi in post-menopausal women mean for women’s health?
if she’s saying these things, it may be hsdd
Before Using

I watched the big guns not do anything about the science, and that was a commentary on the perspective they had on women’s health: they don’t value sexual health in women the same as they do in men. We left women out of the conversation.

How does Addyi work in HSDD?

You have done incredible research and the amount of work and effort you have into women's health is very inspiring. Women outside the industry dont believe it because it is inconcibible. But we will not stop until every women is able to receive the right care. Thank you Cindy Eckert for a cool decade of blood sweat and tears for the very first SexDrug (and Rock n Roll) for us....and to push and push uphill against to get the December 2025 approval was just monumental. Thanks for the courage I know it took to do this film.

Let’s Get to the Root Cause

I’ve shared it with so many people since you first told me about it two years ago at SXSW. So inspiring to see how far it’s come — and I know this is just the beginning. I was awe struck meeting you 7 yrs ago and still am. Thank you for your genius, bravery and perseverance. Women need people like you who stick up for what's right and uncomfortable. And I should have anticipated that the first-ever drug for women’s sexual pleasure would not follow a straight line.

Country	Approval Status	Key Brands Available	Price Range ($)
USA	Not FDA-approved, available as supplement	PinkVibe, FemaleGlow	10-30 per bottle
UK	Dietary supplement, no specific regulation	HarmonyPink, FeminaCare	8-25 per bottle
Australia	Approved as dietary supplement	LadyBoost, PinkPower	12-35 per bottle
Canada	Approved as supplement	FemmeVital, Women's Health Plus	15-40 per bottle

To me, it’s about the science. Medicine has understood it for some time now, but what crept in was social commentary, a societal bias that questions whether pleasure matters for women. Read More: What to Know About Early Menopause In the end, Addyi was approved [in 2015 for pre-menopausal women] on the basis of science, with clinical trials involving 13,000 women, which was three times the size of the trials conducted on Viagra at the time of its [FDA] submission.

Product	Dosage	Quantity + Bonus	Price
Cialis Generic	60mg	270 + 10 Pills	443.96€ 422.82€
Kamagra	100mg	120 + 6 Pills	330.74€ 314.99€
Tadalista Super Active	20mg	180 + 20 Pills	521.59€ 496.75€
Super Kamagra	160 mg	20 + 4 Pills	155.35€ 147.95€
Cialis Original	20mg	22 + 2 Pills	129.20€ 123.05€
Cialis Professional	20mg	20 Pills	78.33€ 74.60€
Kamagra 100 mg	100 mg	32 Pills	121.24€ 115.47€
Super Kamagra	160 mg	32 + 4 Pills	218.25€ 207.86€
Cialis Generic	10mg	30 + 4 Pills	63.32€ 60.30€
Viagra Generic	100mg	120 + 6 Pills	149.50€ 142.38€

Granted, erectile dysfunction is different from HSDD in women, but the FDA took six months to approve Viagra, and by contrast it took us six years to earn approval for Addyi. Addyi works on neurotransmitters in the brain. If you think of other drugs that work in the central nervous system, we don’t separate populations by age in the same way.

Age Range	Percentage of Users	Main Reasons for Use	Average Duration of Use
25-35 years	40%	Mood improvement, libido boost	3-6 months
36-45 years	35%	Menopause symptoms, energy enhancement	6-12 months
46-50 years	25%	Hormonal support, sleep aid	Varies
All ages	N/A	General wellness	Ongoing

It’s the same molecule, and the same dosage as Addyi that was approved for HSDD. But there is a pattern in women’s health where we lead with a skewed point of view on the importance of factors—including the desire for sex—that are societally conditioned.

Type	Main Ingredients	Targeted Issue	Availability
Herbal Pink Pill	Ginseng, Rhodiola, Maca	Energy and libido enhancement	Over-the-counter supplements
Hormonal Pink Pill	Low-dose estrogen, vitamins	Hormonal imbalance, menopause	Prescription required
Herbal-Plus Pink Pill	Combination of herbs and vitamins	General wellness	Supplements, online stores
Sleep-support Pink Pill	Melatonin, valerian root	Sleep disorders	Pharmacies, herbal stores

The world wasn’t ready for a female Viagra.

What does finally receiving FDA approval for Addyi in post-menopausal women mean for women’s health?

“It’s just science” I would have said…. Never did I anticipate all of the roadblocks, personal attacks or blatant misinformation that were going to be part of this path to equality. Nor did I expect three absolutely incredible, award winning, female filmmakers to reach out and tell me they were making a film about it. I didn’t want to revisit the past when it’s been 15 years of telling myself just look forward. But they reminded me that sometimes you have to go back to the beginning to break the future wide open.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before using Addyi?

That is why they chose to make this film. They are on the same mission as I am. As are all of the incredible doctors, advocates and women in this film who are my inspiration to continue to show up and fight for what’s right. It’s the stuff of movies as they say… Streaming March 6th Paramount+ @thepinkpillfilm Everywoman Studios I cannot WAIT to meet you tonight Cindy Eckert on the pink carpet, Cindy. I’ll be proudly PInK and I’m genuinely obsessed with joining your fight to close the gap in awareness, fundingh, and seriousness around women’s sexual health.

How can I get more information about Addyi?

As someone who has spent decades listening to women’s stories about how intimacy and desire caused a marriage breakdown….I’m honored to stand beside you and use my LOUDEST voice to spread awareness for the PINK pill! How did I not even know myself about Addyi myself??? Side effects are horrible with Addyi, my blood pressure went way low I almost passed out. Thank goodness my sex drive came back naturally. Cannot wait to watch Cindy Eckert you are MY inspiration behind Lorai Health, and I just keep telling myself you did it, we - my cofounder Raisa Monteiro - can do it too. Not only do we rule out anything a woman is experiencing as probably emotional and not medical, if there is a medical solution, we lead with its risk. The reason for that is that we have already dismissed that there is any benefit in addressing her symptoms. Read More: How to Fight Hair Loss During Menopause When Addyi first came out, there were discussions about the risks when taken with alcohol. Studies showed that some women experienced side effects including dizziness, sleepiness and nausea, and less than 2% had to discontinue Addyi because of them. So if you have one or two drinks in the evening, wait a couple of hours before taking Addyi at bedtime.

if she’s saying these things, it may be hsdd

By forcing Addyi into a Viagra-shaped box, both the FDA and the drug’s makers have only increased confusion over the role of desire and arousal in female sexuality. Addyi’s website spotlights women who don’t feel physical desire and whose bodies don’t respond during sex—in other words, women with arousal problems, which Addyi doesn’t address. Sprout’s previous marketing campaign, “Even the Score,” argued that there were 26 drugs for male sexual dysfunction, but none for women, ignoring the fact that Addyi tackles a very different problem than Viagra. Perhaps the one thing Viagra and Addyi have in common is that both reify unrealistic, normative standards for what sexual behavior should look like. Viagra gave us the narrative that male sexuality is mechanical, a simple on-off switch—that what matters for men is not their desire, but their erections.

Addyi affects

Meanwhile, the way people talk about Addyi narrows the conversation around female sexual problems, says Brotto. If drugs like Addyi are the only tools doctors have to offer, she worries, they’ll reach for them before determining what other factors might be leading to a patient's lack of lust. “If all you have is a hammer, right?” she said. The gendered narratives behind these pills obscure the fact that desire and arousal, mind and body, are involved in every sexual experience. They also obscure the fact that the real female Viagra is, well, Viagra.

IN CLINICAL TRIALS1, WOMEN ON ADDYI EXPERIENCED:

In people with vulvas, Viagra works in exactly the same way, pumping blood to the genitals and leading to clitoral and labial swelling. Researchers are currently investigating the use of topical sildenafil (the generic form of Viagra) gel to increase sensation, arousal, and orgasm in women. And while Addyi has mainly been tested in heterosexual, pre-menopausal, partnered women, there is no reason it can’t be used in queer women, post-menopausal women, gender-diverse folks, and yes, men (who, it turns out, also have brains). Once we get beyond the his-and-hers, pink-and-blue branding, it’s clear that, like sexual pleasure, these drugs have no gender. Fifteen years ago if you’d told me that my mission for women’s sexual health to receive equal consideration would be the subject of a independent documentary I would have laughed. Or if you have more than three drinks, then skip Addyi that night.

Pink pills are sometimes used to address sexual dysfunction in women.
They are marketed as natural or holistic remedies, depending on ingredients.
Medical approval varies; some are unregulated, over-the-counter supplements.
Users should check for FDA approval or medical supervision before use.

We [as a society] talk about the risks of Addyi and alcohol in every article. But it’s not our call, it’s every woman’s call.

Before Using

On Dec. 15, Sprout Pharmaceuticals received approval to use its pill, Addyi (flibanserin), to treat low sexual desire in women who are past menopause. Addyi works by addressing neurotransmitters like dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin in the brain, balancing them to stimulate sexual desire signals while suppressing inhibitory ones. The pill has been approved fildena ct by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2015 to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in pre-menopausal women, and the expanded approval includes women under age 65 who are past menopause, a time when hormone levels drop and libido changes.

Drug information

The FDA required an additional review of data on women after menopause to ensure the drug’s safety and efficacy in the larger age group—a requirement that Cindy Eckert, Sprout’s CEO, says represents a double standard and stigma against addressing sexual desire in women, since that data was part of the company's original submission for approval and included women 18 to 80 years old. Eckert discussed with TIME the company’s long road to the approval and the larger issues facing certain medicines for women. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. I might not have fully processed yet how big this win is. It’s an historic first in women’s health.

Does Addyi interact with foods or drinks?

I think this signifies not only scientific recognition of a medical condition that affects millions of women that had been previously discussed only with stigma, not science, but also a cultural recognition that we value sexual health as part of women’s overall wellness, their longevity, and their well-being. And that their sex life doesn’t end at menopause. To me, we played the long game, and culture caught up. I built a male sexual health company at a time when there was only long-acting testosterone treatment for men. Now there are 26 FDA-approved treatments for some form of male sexual dysfunction, but there were none for women. She gets to weigh the benefits—more desire for sex, more interest in sex, more satisfying sexual events, and less stress over her condition. More women experience sexual dysfunction than men globally.

Some pink pills contain ingredients like L-arginine to stimulate blood flow.
They're sometimes recommended alongside other fertility or health treatments.
The branding and marketing are often targeted towards women seeking empowerment.
Quality control can vary significantly between brands and products.

The expansion to post-menopausal women is long overdue.

The popularity of pink pills reflects increasing openness about female sexuality.
They may also contain vitamins and minerals for overall reproductive health.
Effectiveness depends on individual health conditions and underlying issues.
Some formulations are designed for specific age groups or hormonal states.

As a female founder in health, even when raising money for this product that has a higher prevalence than erectile dysfunction, we weren’t getting any money from Sand Hill Road [a part of Silicon Valley rife with venture capitalists].

The pink pill aims to boost women's libido and sexual satisfaction.
It often contains ingredients like aphrodisiacs or hormonal components.
Some pink pills are marketed as supplements; others are pharmaceutical drugs.
Effectiveness varies; consult a healthcare provider before use.

I had built a successful company in men’s sexual health.