Just over a year ago women believed they had their own ‘Viagra’, a treatment that was supposed to boost their libido and put the oomph in their sex lives. ‘Addyi’ as it was called, was supposed to become the first ‘female Viagra’ to hit the market, after many pretenders had tried and failed. Unfortunately, things didn’t exactly go to the plan. Shortly after FDA approval, Sprout Pharmaceuticals, Addyi’s initial owners, sold the drug to Valeant Pharmaceuticals International. However, Valeant’s business strategy of buying older medicines and hiking the prices up brought harsh criticism from around the world. Valeant’s stock price soon plummeted and the steam behind Addyi soon vanished. Not only this, but there were concerns about some rather questionable side effects involved with Addyi, namely low blood pressure, nausea, drowsiness and even fainting. Women also had to take the drug daily and not touch alcohol at all whilst taking it. The real killer however was the belief there were no major benefits from Addyi and it wasn’t worth it. After all, women supposedly could only look forward to a purported one more sexually satisfying experience each month. Now however, it seems there could be a new contender entering the picture and wanting to take the mantle of being known as the female Viagra. The new drug is currently being given the moniker bremelanotide, and has actually been in the pipeline for a number of years. Tests have shown that bremelanotide manages to activate receptors in the brain which are usually activated by hormones called melanocortins. Previous research has shown that this hormone system is typically responsible for the brain's responses to sexually exciting stimuli. Therefore, the synthetic version could promote similar feelings. On Tuesday, the drug’s developer, Palatin Technologies, announced that the drug had achieved the goals of late stage Phase 3 clinical trials, showing statistically significant improvement that it can boost libido. Just like Addyi, bremelanotide is primarily targeting a condition known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in premenopausal women — this is not merely just a general feeling of having low libido. In women, the symptoms can include difficulty becoming aroused, having no interest in sex, difficulty reaching an orgasm, and even experiencing some types of pain during intercourse. The major plus to bremelanotide and where it differs to the daily-taken Addyi, is that it only has to be taken prior to sex through a self-administered injection. There could be reasons to be cautious about the new ‘female Viagra’ though. Unlike actual Viagra, the female treatments are looking at impact the psychological, rather than physical, factors behind sexual dysfunction. This can prove tricky because a person’s libido may change during the course of their lifetime and even during their relationship due to a number of reasons. For example, if a couple are constantly at war with each other and fighting, will a drug really sort that out? Unlikely. The 24-week studies into bremelanotide assessed over 1,200 women that were diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD). “The distress component of HSDD reflects the profound negative impact that this condition can have on women's' self-image, relationships and quality of life well outside the bedroom,” Sheryl Kingsberg, one of the study's investigators, said in a statement. “In the Phase 3 trials we saw significant reduction in distress with use of bremelanotide,” added Kingsberg, a professor of reproductive biology at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Ohio. The clinical trials showed that the drug was tolerated well with no new safety issues found, Palatin said. Similar to Addyi before it, the most frequent side effect was nausea, but this was usually only to a mild degree. Palatin is now looking to file with regulators in the hope of securing a U.S. approval for bremelanotide in the latter half of next year. Keep checking the Medical Specialists® Pharmacy website for further updates about bremelanotide or other female sexual dysfunction products that may become available in the future, and we already have a huge range of existing male impotence and premature ejaculation treatments.