Conference Coverage
Dr. Lisa Larkin, scientific co-chair of Even the Score, and director of the UC Women’s Center in Cincinnati, applauded the FDA’s decision, saying that she hopes the approval will open the pipeline to research and development for more medications for women’s sexual health. Dr. Larkin, an internist with a special interest in women’s health, does not receive compensation for her position with Even the Score.
“This is a landmark day,” she said, even with the physician education and post-marketing requirements imposed by the FDA. “The patients I see are very distressed. These are real women suffering from a real medical condition.”
But Leonore Tiefer, Ph.D., clinical associate professor of psychiatry at New York University, expressed her disappointment in what she characterized as the FDA’s failure to adhere to its core mission. The FDA, she said, has become “too porous to external influences. To yield to pressure from industry was a mistake.”
She explained that as a sexologist, she has many non-pharmacologic treatments in her toolkit to help women with low sexual desire.
“I don’t think this is going to help women,” Dr. Tiefer said.
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