Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
The FDA has approved the drug Flibanserin, or the "female Viagra." It will be marketed with a much cuter name, Addyi, and is expected to be available in a few months.
Dr. Jennifer Berman is a sexual health expert, urologist and female sexual medicine specialist. She is also a co-host on the Emmy Award-winning television show, "The Doctors." Berman says the new drug is not like the traditional male Viagra, designed to increase blood flow.
"This drug, Flibanserin, works within the brain and central nervous system through an entirely different mechanism for an entirely different type of sexual function completely, that being for low sexual desire," she said.
Berman says female sexuality and sexual response is very complicated. "There isn't going to be a little pink or blue pill that's going to solve all aspects to this problem," she said.
While sexual health is directly associated with general health, it's tough to measure the benefits of the drug, Berman says. Someone’s libido is a subjective event. "It's like asking somebody how you feel when asked what is God," she said.
Addyi is expected to be available to the public by mid-October.
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.