Viagra for Females To be Released This Week

A female version of Viagra, called Intrinsa, will become available for women this week. The new drug is intended to change the sex lives of women.

Intrinsa will initially be available only on prescription for post-menopausal women diagnosed with sexual problems.

It is, however, possible that the patches will later become an over the counter drug that can be used by younger women without sexual problems who want to boost their libido.

The new drug treatment for women will work by letting loose the male hormone testosterone through the skin and into the bloodstream.

The patch, which is about the size of an egg, is put on just below the navel and is changed twice a week.

Intrinsa's manufacturer, Procter and Gamble, says that the patch helped boost the sex drive of hundreds of women in trials. It also increased the amount of sexual activity they experienced.

Positive results were also found in menopausal women who had been diagnosed with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. This condition causes sexual activity to be reduced thereby causing psychological distress.

Tests also showed that the drug worked on women who suffered from a loss in sex drive due to a hysterectomy.

According to Phillip Hodson, author of "How to Make Great Love to a Woman, "This is the first medication that is going to have an effect on women's libido. There are some women who say they are no longer interested in sex, then you find their testosterone levels are extremely low. Those women will probably experience the reconstruction of their sex lives."

Hodson does warn, however, that medication can't solve emotional problems which may be the root cause for a woman's low libido.

The Intrinsa patch works by increasing the level of testosterone in a woman's blood. Even though it is the male sex hormone, it does naturally occur in women also.

Experts say that the therapy would help women having a hysterectomy and others who have premature menopause before the age of 50.

Procter and Gamble decided to make a patch instead of a pill, which would have led to too high a dosage. This would avoid the unfavorable effect of testosterone which can cause increased body hair and liver disorders.

Procter and Gamble says the patches will help women with Female Sexual Disfunction, or FSD.

Unlike Viagra, however, the patch does not work immediately and will take weeks to begin its effect.

Sources:
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=362183&sid=LIF&ssid=204
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/44252.html