14 DAY TRIAL // Viagra boosted sex and life quality. But in men the main issue is impotence and Viagra is an anti-impotence drug. Instead, the main sexual issue for women is the lack of sex drive. This could be solved by a new drug currently in trial at the University of Virginia. Other 99 medical institutions are involved in the trial for testing the efficiency and security of the new product.
The "female Viagra" is called LibiGel, and it is an ointment whose action is based on testosterone, the male sex hormone. Sex drive in both sexes is determined by testosterone (in women it is secreted by the ovaries and the adrenal gland), but as women produce much less than men, this explains their lower sex drive. The gel would turn the woman into a sexual beast for 24 hours after being applied onto the skin of the upper arm. From the skin, the testosterone will enter the bloodstream.
By the moment, the research is aimed for women who have had their both ovaries surgically removed, but it could in fact be used by the overall population and this is not a small number, as over 30% of the American women experience low sex drive (hypoactive sexual desire disorder).
The producer, BioSante Pharmaceuticals, has got funds valued to $3.5 million to urge the drug's development. A 2004 clinical trial of LibiGel revealed that the ointment boosted the number of satisfying sexual contacts by 238 %, from 2.1 to 7.1 per month.
The new trial is made on 25 female subjects aged 30 to 65, all experiencing hypoactive sexual desire disorder. All subjects have their ovaries removed, take an estrogen supplement and the lack of sex drive affects their life quality.
Another similar drug, called Intrinsa, was tested in 2007. Its action is based on testosterone too, but Intrinsa is an egg-sized patch releasing testosterone. Intrinsa is located just below the navel and replaced twice a week. It tested positive in menopausal women diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder and women with hysterectomy (removed ovaries). But Intrinsa takes weeks to manifest.
Some warn that women's sex problems root on social, phsychological and emotional factor, while men's difficulties are physical. One drug cannot treat four different issues like desire, arousal, achieving orgasm and genital pain.