Mental Health Blogs

So yesterday results of a study of a drug called Flibanserin (its generic name) were rolled out at a conference in France. Flibanserin was designed as an anti-depressant, but failed its trials except in one key sense: female patients were reluctant to return the study drug at trial’s end because they’d had a low libido pre-trial and experienced heightened libido while on the drug, which is made by a Germany pharma company called Boehringer Ingelheim. Since the company has run several phase 2 and phase 3 trials of the drug to treated so-called hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD.

Anyhow one study of the drug got a ton of press attention yesterday. It involved 1,378 women in stable relationship who were diagnosed with HSDD. The drug was trialed against placebo over 24 weeks and study subjects reported more “satisfying sexual events”–a careful term if there ever was one–on the drug than on placebo.

Before I get to the skepticism of my headline, let me address the two or three of you who might wonder why I’m writing about a purported treatment for HSDD on a mental health website. First, sex and relationships are obviously entwined with mood and, in many respects, overall mental health. Second, I’m endlessly fascinated by how anti-depressants have been repurposed over the years and this story is a big repurposing.

Now for some skepticism:

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