Noblesville woman joins chorus for female Viagra

Katherine Campbell would be the first person to tell you that she did not set out to become a local face of low sexual desire.

But after the birth of her first child two years ago, the Noblesville woman, who had always had what she considered a healthy sex life, suddenly found herself with no sex drive whatsoever. She consulted her family doctor and her obstetrician-gynecologist, thinking perhaps one of them would prescribe her the female version of Viagra.

Instead, she learned, there is no equivalent for women, nothing doctors can give to help women who, like Campbell, feel as though their sexual desire has completely evaporated. At least no drug that has received government approval.

As Campbell did more research, she came across a company that has a drug in development, nicknamed the "pink pill," to help women who find themselves in a situation similar to Campbell's. She contacted the company to see whether she could join a clinical trial, but the trials had closed for now.

Still, Campbell feels strongly enough about having access to such a medication that she has appeared in the national media and testified in front of the Food and Drug Administration that her condition, known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder, is very real indeed.

"A lot of people blame it on my marriage. They tell me to lose weight, to get the kids out of the house. I don't need to lose weight, my husband and I don't have any marital issues, I'm not depressed," she said. "This is a legitimate problem. There is something in my brain that has been changed; it's nothing I can control."

Estimates range from 1 in 10 to 1 in 20 women who have this condition. In October, the FDA held two days of hearings to study low sexual desire in women, which many advocates argue is an unmet medical need.

Although low sexual desire is more prevalent in older women, younger women, such as Campbell, who's 30, can develop it as well.

Doctors can't test a woman for hypoactive sexual desire disorder; they can only listen to the woman's own assessment of her condition.

Key to the diagnosis of hypoactive sexual desire disorder is that the condition causes psychological or relationship distress for the woman, said Dr. Valerie Omicioli, a clinical assistant professor of gynecology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Some women may have low sexual desire, but if it does not bother them, they are not considered to have this condition.

It's when the condition causes distress, as it did for Campbell, that they seek a treatment, only to find there are few.

"These are women who have identified normal behavior in the past, seeking and hunger for sexual activity," said Dr. David Portman, director of the Columbus Center for Women's Health Research in Columbus, Ohio, who is a paid consultant for the company that has a drug for the condition in development. "It's an acquired type of problem, and it should also cause distress. ... It's impacting their self-esteem, body image, relationships and perhaps even overall health and quality of life."

For Campbell, it was as though a switch went off and she stopped experiencing sexual desire. Married only two years, she said, she was still attracted to her husband but wasn't interested in having sex.

During this time, she asked her family doctor and obstetrician-gynecologist for help, to no avail. She and her husband continued to have sex, and Campbell had a second child.

"Not only do I not want sex, I don't even think about it. I don't have fantasies or desires. I don't even feel womanly anymore," she said. "I would like to want to have sex again."

When a second doctor told her there was no treatment, Campbell thought she must be one of a few women with this condition because surely if more had it, there would be a treatment for it. The only current options are anti-depressants that increase dopamine levels in the brain (other anti-depressants may actually tamp down libido) or low doses of testosterone, but both of these have mixed effects.

The lack of better treatment stems from the complicated processes that go into creating sexual desire for women.

"It is not as simple as saying this is the female Viagra, because Viagra is really working on a physiological problem of not maintaining blood flow to the penis, so it's plumbing, if you will," Omicioli said. "We don't have a great answer for women, and we sympathize."

The pink pill, or flibanserin, is often considered to be the female Viagra, but it actually works quite differently, said Cindy Whitehead, president and chief operating officer of Raleigh-based Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the company behind the drug.

Unlike Viagra, which is taken before sex, flibanserin must be taken once a day. Flibanserin aims to address the brain's balance of dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, thought to be key in mediating sexual desire. Too much serotonin may interfere with the brain's ability to become sexually excited, and flibanserin helps boost levels of the first two neuroreceptors, while lowering serotonin levels.

Trials of more than 11,000 pre-menopausal women found the compound performed better than a placebo at increasing participants' sexual desire and the number of satisfying sexual events they experienced, as well as decreasing distress over sex, Whitehead said. Common side effects included dizziness, nausea, fatigue and sleepiness.

The FDA was not impressed. Last year, the agency declined to approve the drug, and Sprout is in the process of compiling additional information for review, Whitehead said.

One of the questions that the FDA raised about the drug was whether it offered enough of a benefit to warrant the side-effect profile.

For now, flibanserin could be the best bet for women like Campbell, experts say.

"It's a hard decision to make about what's beneficial enough if you're the person suffering. If you have desire one more time for a month, that may be good enough for you," Omicioli said. "Right now, I don't know that we have any wonder drugs in the pipeline."

Since Campbell has come forward with her problem, she has heard from many other women like her, she said. She and her husband are considering trying sex therapy.

And she's keeping her fingers crossed that the FDA changes its mind. Campbell, who has no affiliation with Sprout Pharmaceuticals, points to the many women who participated in the clinical trials and reported that the drug helped. She would like to have the opportunity to try it.

"I recognize that not every drug is a one size fits all. This may not even work for me, but I need choices here," she said. "I am praying for this treatment to be approved sooner than later. ... Any improvement is a huge stride, in my opinion. If it increases your sexual activity one time, that's still a major improvement."

Call Star reporter Shari Rudavsky at (317) 444-6354. Follow her on Twitter: @srudavsky.