Women who can't reach orgasm or lack an interest in sex with their partner may soon have a pharmaceutical boost with a new drug dubbed "female Viagra."
Canadian company Trimel Pharmaceuticals has developed a new testosterone-based treatment called Tefina that is administered in gel droplets via the nostrils two hours before sex. The effect -- which is both an increased sexual desire and enhanced blood flow to the genitals -- can last for six hours, reported The Daily Mail in the UK on Tuesday.
"We have previously shown that for women with low sexual interest, testosterone therapy not only improves sexual desire and arousal, but also enhances a woman's ability to reach orgasm," lead researcher Susan Davis from Monash University in Australia told Medical Daily website.
Announced last week, she and her team are currently leading a Phase II study in Australia, while clinical trials are also reportedly taking place in the US and Canada.
According to the Medical Daily website, Davis has also said that Tefina would be "most helpful for patients who say that sex has become a chore rather than a pleasurable experience," and for those women who have sex with their partners just to "maintain relationship harmony," but not out of any real interest.
Fertility expert Ric Gordon told ONE News in New Zealand last week that the new drug may bring big money to Big Pharma but overlook the real factors behind a reduced libido. "Men use sex to de-stress and women need to be de-stressed to have sex, so that's a very complex emotional issue," he said.
"A lot of people have thought drumming up the idea of a female Viagra is just for pharmaceutical purposes," countered researcher Fiona Jane to ONE News, "but in actual fact there is a huge need for women to have their sexual dysfunction addressed."