FDA Considers 'Women's Viagra.' Again.

NPR

Published June 4, 2015 at 1:50 PM EDT

In this Friday, Sept. 27, 2013, photo, Cindy Whitehead holds a tablet of flibanserin in her office at Sprout Pharmaceuticals in Raleigh, N.C. (Allen G. Breed/AP)

Food and Drug Administration advisers are meeting today to consider — again — whether to recommend the first-ever pill that would increase sexual desire in women. The drug, flibanserin, has already been rejected twice by the FDA.

Some women’s groups — including one backed by the drug’s developer — are accusing the FDA of gender bias, for approving drugs that treat sexual dysfunction in men, but not in women. The FDA rejects that claim.

Here & Now‘s Robin Young talks to Emily Nagoski, the director of wellness education at Smith College and the author of “Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life,” about the debate over the pill.

Guest

Emily Nagoski is the director of wellness education at Smith College and the author of “Come As You Are: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life.”