It was one of the worst decisions the FDA ever made – approving the female libido drug Addyi three years ago.
This med was going to sell so well that it would make even more money than the blue pill for guys!
But that didn’t happen.
It could have been because Addyi was and is considered so dangerous that there was no question it would come with a black-box warning. Or perhaps it’s because to even take the med (which is to be popped daily), a woman has to “pledge” to abstain from drinking alcohol of any kind.
Then again, maybe it was the price, which at $800 was a little over the top… or the fact that it was found to have only “minimal” results.
Whatever the reason, the company that makes it is now hard at work to turn this disastrous desire drug into a success.
And it will stop at nothing until women everywhere are popping Addyi pills as if they were Tic Tacs.
If at first you don’t succeed…
The Addyi story could go down in the annals of pharma fables as one of the most crafty and devious ever.
To get it approved, they used every trick in the playbook — a Madison Avenue PR firm launched a fake campaign about how women are discriminated against when it comes to their sexual health, while the med’s manufacturer footed the bill for a phony docudrama about female sexuality that played on the Discovery Channel.
Apparently, though, Boehringer Ingelheim, the German-based drug giant that first made Addyi (originally developed as an antidepressant), got tired of all that baloney and sold it to a U.S. drugmaker called Sprout.
And that’s when this bogus crusade went full throttle, with women being bussed all over the U.S. to “protest” being denied their very own pink pill.
One expert called the whole affair nothing more than a “slick pharmaceutical campaign masquerading as a grassroots feminist movement.”
Whatever the secret sauce was, it worked. And FDA officials, somewhat hesitantly, gave it their blessing.
That’s pretty amazing when you consider the long list of potential side effects that come along with Addyi.
For starters, there’s “sedation,” dizziness, nausea, fatigue, insomnia, anxiety, and a potential link to breast tumors. And that’s just the short list!
There’s also the black-box warning that cautions how blood pressure can dip so seriously low that it can cause “loss of consciousness.”
And if you indulge in even one drink, that effect can be magnified.
In fact, it’s so important that women taking Addyi stay away from alcoholic beverages that before docs hand out an Rx for it, they are supposed to “counsel” patients about the “importance” of not having that glass of wine or beer… and force them to sign a consent form promising not to touch a drop!
At the time it was approved, experts warned that prescribing Addyi to women with heart problems or who are social drinkers would cause “an epidemic of serious adverse events.”
But as I said, Sprout is champing at the bit to get sales up — and to that end, it’s even found a work-around for a visit to your doctor. After all, this is a risky Rx med that should only be prescribed by a physician who knows you and your circumstances very well.
Now, however, anyone who wants to get their hands on this perilous pink pill simply has to fork over $75 for a “confidential online doctor visit” that can be done “all from the comfort of your couch.”
How is that even legal?
Then, you can even get it delivered free of charge. What a deal!
As for the cost, Sprout has generously cut it in half to a piddling $400 — but should that Internet doc know the right diagnostic codes to punch in for your insurance company, you might even get it for as little as $25 a month.
Look, nothing about Addyi has ever been about equal rights or that women are somehow being denied their own version of that well-known drug for men.
It’s all about how Big Pharma can con you out of your money using every deceitful method it can get its greedy hands on.
And if Addyi’s current marketing plan works, it may leave a lot of women paying a very high price for taking that bait.
There are plenty of reasons why a woman’s sex drive may be stuck in low gear. HSI panel member Dr. Mark Stengler says that an important one is a drop in testosterone, which can easily lead to libido issues. You don’t, however, have to turn to hormone therapy to boost it.
The supplement fenugreek extract ups both estradiol (the female sex hormone) and free testosterone, while the natural aphrodisiac aptly named “horny goat weed” can also help boost testosterone along with estrogen… and as a bonus, it’s said to prevent bone loss!
“Female sex drive booster Addyi is back, but will second time around be different?” Joshua Cohen, June 18, 2018, Forbes, forbes.com
