There's been talk that ZONA will have a drug for women some day. Well, Viagra already is approved and apparently works in some women. Here're the news articles on it:
Headline: Viagra does work in some women, study finds
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By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON, May 4 (Reuters) - The first controlled study of
Viagra in women shows the drug, a blockbuster seller for men,
also helps many women, doctors reported on Tuesday.
Although the study was small, researcher Dr. Jennifer
Berman of the University of Boston says it shows that the same
physical mechanisms that can make men impotent can cause sexual
problems in women, as well.
Berman did a study with 17 women. Each got either Viagra or
a dummy pill, and three months later the women who got Viagra
were switched to a placebo and the women who had been given
sugar pills got Viagra.
All of her patients were either past menopause or had
undergone hysterectomies -- both of which cause a loss of
production of female hormones and can lead to sexual problems
such as a loss of sensation and lubrication.
Berman and the patients did not know which woman got which
pill until the end of the study -- a standard scientific
approach called a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
Viagra, made by Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE) and known generically
as sildenafil, works by increasing the effects of nitric oxide,
a common body chemical, which in turn gets more blood flowing
into the genitals.
The women have the same physical response to Viagra as men,
Berman said -- increased blood flow to the genital area, which
allows the penis to become erect and in women allows for a
response to stimulation.
"Objectively, the physiological changes that occurred,
sildenafil did appear to significantly increase blood flow and
pH and pH is an indicator of lubrication," Berman, who will
present her findings to a meeting of the American Urological
Association in Dallas, said in a telephone interview.
"Subjectively, with regard to lubrication, sensitivity, the
ability to have orgasm, and satisfaction, the women noted a
significant difference."
Berman said she had done another study at Boston University
with 48 women. While not so carefully controlled -- the women
all got Viagra and knew it -- there was a statistically
significant difference.
"It does appear to be Viagra because there are
physiological changes that can't be faked,' she said.
Many of the women, aged 22 to 71, had psychological
problems with sex, Berman said. These include poor body image,
a history of sexual abuse, or marital trouble. "Those women
don't respond to Viagra or any drug," she said.
Some men do, however, have a strong "placebo response" to
Viagra, meaning that they think it will work so it does.
"Eighty-five to 90 percent of men with psychological problems
respond to Viagra," Berman said.
Pfizer says seven million prescriptions have been written
for Viagra worldwide, which earned the company $788 million
last year.
In March a team at Columbia Presbyterian Center in New York
found that Viagra has no more of an effect in women than a
dummy pill would.
But Dr. Steven Kaplan, the urologist who led the study,
agreed his patients may not have been optimal Viagra patients,
because many had emotional or psychological problems.
For women, Viagra may not be the universal answer that the
little blue pills can be for men, Berman said. Even if it takes
care of their physical symptoms, it may not solve their
problems.
Sex is simply more emotional for a woman, she said.
"Although there are physiological, medical reasons why women
have sexual complaints, there are emotional and relational
consequences to sexual dysfunction that are relevant to women,"
Berman added.
"While men can define their sexual function in terms of
rigidity, for women it doesn't work that way."
Berman said her team was testing two other drugs for sexual
dysfunction in women -- the Parkinson's drug apomorphine, being
developed by TAP Holdings, a joint venture between Takeda
Chemical Industries of Japan (TOKYO:4502) and Abbott Laboratories
(NYSE:ABT), as well as a combination of the herb yohimbe and an
amino acid, L-arginine made by Bedford, Massachusetts-based
NitroMed Inc.
Copyright 1999, Reuters News Service |
