Search Continues for a Pill that Lifts Women's Libido

The Economist: Arousing interest: 

The search continues for a pill that will lift a woman’s libido

BACK in the 1990s a drug firm called Pfizer thought it had a treatment for angina. Unfortunately, the new medicine failed its clinical trials. But a curious side-effect was seen in those trials—and Viagra was born. It has helped make Pfizer into a pharmaceutical powerhouse and, since then, people have wondered if what is sauce for the gander might ever be sauce for the goose. Many have tried, not least Pfizer, which has gallantly tested Viagra to see if it works on women, too. (It does not.) This week, though, saw the results of trials on a drug that might.

The story of flibanserin, as the new drug is known, has echoes of Viagra’s own tale. In this case its developers, Boehringer Ingelheim, had depression in mind as the target condition. But it was women, rather than men, who reported increased sexual desire as a side-effect. . . .