Has Viagra impacted on the female sexual condition?

Dubbed the magic blue pill, Viagra is the registered trademark of Pfizer famed for its sex-boosting ability. Available for prescription in April 1998, Viagra tablets rank as one of the best selling drugs of all times.

In just under one year of release into the market, Viagra tablets, according to the drug prescription-tracking giant IMS Health, have grossed over 1.2billion US dollars, with over 13.5million men worldwide on the blue pills prescription.

The implication of the success achieved in treating men is that researchers are beginning to consider the suitability of this drug for the treatment of women.

The result of a recent statistical survey conducted by the American Medical Association showed that more women suffer sexual dysfunction than men. According to the study, about 43 percent of women have one form of sexual dysfunction or the other as against the 31 percent of males that suffered from such conditions. Though the survey shows that the sexual dysfunctions market for women is largely underserved and under-treated, the jury is still out on how Viagra tablets can be of benefit to these women.

Right from the start, Pfizer had been unambiguous on about their aim for manufacturing the drug: Viagra was originally formulated for treating angina pectoris and hypertension in men. When this drug failed to yield the expected result for angina, however, Viagra tablets were subsequently marketed as a treatment for ED after it was found out that they produced rock-hard erections in men who were believed to be impotent.

The fact that Viagra tablets produced their erectile effect through the relaxation of the smooth muscles to enable blood flow was then explored by scientists who believed that blood flow to the clitoris in women – just as it flows to penis in men – could be a key factor in treating women with sexual dysfunctions.

If the treatment of women with sexual dysfunctions is tied to the flow of blood to the clitoris, and Viagra tablets can effectively fill this gap, the question is: Why is Pfizer not marketing the drug to women?

In responding to the ‘Viagra for women’ question, Maryann Caprino, a spokeswoman for Pfizer, gave her opinion in the direction of the complexities involved in the issue of female sexual dysfunction which made it difficult for the drug to be marketed to women at that point in time.

Simply put, any woman that wants to buy Viagra tablets would have to exercise some patient until the complexities involved in sexual dysfunctions in women are better understood.

Despite Maryann’s opinion, however, doctors have not been deterred from prescribing Viagra tablets for their female patients. And this is also considering the fact that the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve the drug as suitable for use by women.

In the opinion of Dr. H. Nurnberg, a respondent from the University of New Mexico, women respond very well to Viagra. In fact, the response of women to Viagra tablets is better than that of men, according to the associate professor.

To buttress his point, Nurnberg cited the result of a research that he personally carried out. In the research, the professor gave a group of women, who were expressing temporary sexual dysfunction that had been induced by antidepressants, Viagra tablets. He discovered that these women were able to finish their therapy while retaining their sexual activity with the help of the drug.

Leonore Tiefer, a clinical professor, however, gave a contrary opinion when she said that any woman who chooses to buy Viagra tablets as a treatment for her sexual problem should bear in mind that there is no evidence to show that the flow of blood to the clitoris enhances the sexuality of women.