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Thought this may interest Members
Interest aroused in a female love drug
Sarah-Kate Templeton
February 13, 2006
SCIENTISTS are on a multi-billion- dollar quest to find a drug to arouse female sexual desire. More than 20 drugs are being developed to meet the needs of women seeking to overcome the effects of long working hours and family pressures.
While drugs for male sexual dysfunction, such as Viagra, work by chemical stimulation of the sexual organs, the treatments being devised for women act on receptors in the brain.
Trials of Viagra on women by the manufacturer Pfizer found that it had little effect on a woman's libido.
Stimulating the parts of the brain responsible for female sexual excitement is a challenge for pharmaceutical firms.
Palatin Technologies, a US company, is carrying out trials of a drug called Bremelanotide, the first in a new class of drugs containing a synthetic form of the hormone melanocortin.
Within 30 minutes the drug activates the brain's melanocortin receptors -- the nerves involved in sexual arousal -- increasing sexual interest.
Several other companies are preparing drugs based on the chemical apomorphine, which mimics dopamine, the brain's "signalling" chemical.
It acts on the hypothalamus, a part of the brain known to control physical arousal.
Female demand is predicted to be strong, particularly from exhausted career women.
Phillip Hodson, a relationship counsellor and author of How to Make Great Love to a Woman, said: "The life of a lot of modern women is exhausting and we are looking for a quick-fix solution. The alternative would be to change the way we live our lives.
"When women have sexual problems it is linked to their emotional relationships. If someone tells a woman she is beautiful at breakfast she will feel different for the rest of the day ... A lot of that romance is missing."
A World Health Organisation committee has reviewed more than 40 trials of drugs to stimulate desire in women.
Procter & Gamble, the multinational products and services company, has created a testosterone patch called Intrinsa to boost female libido.
The company suffered a setback, however, in December 2004 when the US Food and Drug Administration turned down its application for a licence because of concerns about the drug's long-term safety in relation to breast cancer, heart disease and strokes.
The administration also raised concerns about the efficacy of the treatment. It observed that women wearing the patch had only one more satisfying sexual encounter a month than women using a placebo.
Mike Wyllie, a member of the WHO committee and chief scientific officer at Plethora Solutions, a British pharmaceutical company, said: "The regulatory authorities are being cautious because the drug may be used not just by those who have an arousal disorder but those who have normal sexual function and want to experiment."
The Sunday Times
Interest aroused in a female love drug
Sarah-Kate Templeton
February 13, 2006
SCIENTISTS are on a multi-billion- dollar quest to find a drug to arouse female sexual desire. More than 20 drugs are being developed to meet the needs of women seeking to overcome the effects of long working hours and family pressures.
While drugs for male sexual dysfunction, such as Viagra, work by chemical stimulation of the sexual organs, the treatments being devised for women act on receptors in the brain.
Trials of Viagra on women by the manufacturer Pfizer found that it had little effect on a woman's libido.
Stimulating the parts of the brain responsible for female sexual excitement is a challenge for pharmaceutical firms.
Palatin Technologies, a US company, is carrying out trials of a drug called Bremelanotide, the first in a new class of drugs containing a synthetic form of the hormone melanocortin.
Within 30 minutes the drug activates the brain's melanocortin receptors -- the nerves involved in sexual arousal -- increasing sexual interest.
Several other companies are preparing drugs based on the chemical apomorphine, which mimics dopamine, the brain's "signalling" chemical.
It acts on the hypothalamus, a part of the brain known to control physical arousal.
Female demand is predicted to be strong, particularly from exhausted career women.
Phillip Hodson, a relationship counsellor and author of How to Make Great Love to a Woman, said: "The life of a lot of modern women is exhausting and we are looking for a quick-fix solution. The alternative would be to change the way we live our lives.
"When women have sexual problems it is linked to their emotional relationships. If someone tells a woman she is beautiful at breakfast she will feel different for the rest of the day ... A lot of that romance is missing."
A World Health Organisation committee has reviewed more than 40 trials of drugs to stimulate desire in women.
Procter & Gamble, the multinational products and services company, has created a testosterone patch called Intrinsa to boost female libido.
The company suffered a setback, however, in December 2004 when the US Food and Drug Administration turned down its application for a licence because of concerns about the drug's long-term safety in relation to breast cancer, heart disease and strokes.
The administration also raised concerns about the efficacy of the treatment. It observed that women wearing the patch had only one more satisfying sexual encounter a month than women using a placebo.
Mike Wyllie, a member of the WHO committee and chief scientific officer at Plethora Solutions, a British pharmaceutical company, said: "The regulatory authorities are being cautious because the drug may be used not just by those who have an arousal disorder but those who have normal sexual function and want to experiment."
The Sunday Times
