‘Viagra for women’ on the horizon…and it could even help you lose weight!

Viagra for women has been a topic of great debate ever since Pfizer Viagra first became available way back in 1998, approved for the treatment of erectile dysfunction.

However, that could be a reality by the end of next year as scientists conduct trials on a new wonder drug that almost sounds like it is too good to believe. Not only will be the tablet provide a boost to the woman’s sex drive, but it will apparently also help to curb their appetite and lose weight.

ORLIBID, the British company involved in developing the drug, are optimistic they will be successful in having ‘ORL101’ on shelves by the end of 2015.

An estimated four in ten women complain at some point that their sex life is larking the spark it once had and drug companies have toiled for a number of years to create a female equivalent of the hugely popular but still male-only Viagra – Pfizer’s sixth-biggest medicine, with annual sales of about $2 billion (£1.22 billion).

A strong psychological factor linked to a woman’s libido makes it difficult for pharmaceutical companies to create something effective and beneficial.

Dr Mike Wyllie, part of the team behind the development of Viagra, is of the opinion that ORLIBID could hold the key to unlocking the problem of a woman’s sex drive, and possibly succeed where others have not.

Increasing the brain to desire, ORL101 is a synthetic version of melatonin, which those with a penchant for tanning may have heard of.

Many experts have already been aware of melatonin’s ability to boost sex drive, but the task of getting it into a pill, as opposed to an injection, has proved a complex task.
The cost of ORL101 is anyone’s guess but it is assumed the drug will be comparable to Viagra’s price when it initially launched; up to £12 a tablet.

The tablet will only need to be taken 15 minutes prior to sex, providing a boost to the woman’s libido for up to an impressive 2 hours. This conclusion has been derived from studies conducted on jabs with comparable formulas, which led to better sex and a decreased appetite too.

Dr Wyllie is offering his services to ORLIBID on an advisory basis, free of charge, and will not profit from sales. He says: “It will be for everyone from those where female sexual dysfunction is destroying their relationships to those just wanting to spice up their sex life.”

Dr John Dean, a former president of the International Society for Sexual Medicine, said a drug could be ideal when no medical or psychological cause for sexual problems is found.

He added: “Low sexual desire is by no means a trivial problem. It affects lives, relationships, productivity and satisfaction.”

Viagra could boost baby growth in the womb

Clinical trials are set to begin later this year in Australia and New Zealand to see if Viagra may help baby growth in the womb.

It seems the wonders and possibilities of the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra appear to be increasing on a regular basis. Earlier this year,  scientists claimed that Viagra could impact on white fat cells and thus help to combat obesity, whilst last year TV gardener David Domoney claimed Viagra could even be used to perk up flowers and keep them fresher for longer. If the results of the Australian and New Zealand trials prove successful, we may see at-risk pregnant women being prescribed the little blue pill in the near future.

The clinical trials have been arranged after previous studies showed that sildenafil – the active ingredient of Viagra – could aid the survival of babies inside the mother’s womb by increasing blood supply to the placenta. This is the organ that links the baby’s blood supply to the mother’s.

“There is currently no treatment for growth restriction, other than early delivery once a baby is in danger,” says Dr Kate Groom, who is leading the research at the University of Auckland.

It is hoped that babies at high risk of being born premature or worse, stillborn, may be helped.  One of the causes for a baby being stillborn is due to the condition pre-eclampsia, which can affect up to around 10% of first time pregnancies.

The specific reasons behind pre-eclampsia are not fully established, however it is believed to develop when the placenta does not receive enough blood the baby requires due to arteries not widening enough. An estimated 600 babies are delivered stillborn each year in the UK because of pre-eclampsia, but this figure may decrease in the future if sildenafil is proved a success in the trials.

For the clinical trials, 120 pregnant women who are at a higher risk of having a pre-term/low-growth baby, will be given a low dose of sildenafil to take during their pregnancy and compared against pregnant women in the same high risk group who will be administered a similar looking dummy placebo tablet.

Dr Groom explained the reasoning behind the new human trials, stating how previous animal studies have demonstrated positive results. She said: “Obviously, the drug is famous for increasing the blood supply to the male pelvis but what we’re looking at is the potential to increase blood supply to the female pelvis, and therefore increase blood supply to the placenta. The work that’s been done up until now has been looking at samples of muscle from the uterus and from the placenta from women who’ve had these conditions and applying sildenafil or other types of drugs and making comparisons that show improvements in the blood vessels. In some studies within small animals – looking at babies that are growing we’ve seen sildenafil showing that it does improve growth. We’ve now got the opportunity and we think we’ve got enough evidence to show proof of principle that we should start to have a look and see whether we can help women whose babies are really small.”

It is hoped that many lives could be saved in the future. But that is the important word – future. Pregnant women should not start taking Viagra and Dr Groom added: “It’s got really exciting potential but I think it is important to stress at the moment it is potential. We certainly don’t recommend that anybody should be taking this drug outside of a clinical trial and very close supervision. We are still a few years away from getting an answer, but if this does improve babies’ growth it would be a real breakthrough in terms of our management of foetal growth restriction.”

‘Viagra for women’ may be available in 2016

In just three years’ time, it could be that men are not the only sex who get a helping hand in the bedroom, as Dutch scientists are developing two new drugs to cure the loss of a woman’s desire, one of which is a testosterone-based therapy to heighten pleasure.

The revolutionary new drugs Lybrido and Lybridos, or ‘Female Viagra’ as they are being nicknamed, are being developed by Dutch and US firm Emotional Brain, who claim either could be on bedside cabinets across the world by 2016, being used to boost a woman’s sexual desire and increase feelings of satisfaction in the bedroom.

Currently, men hugely benefit through medicines such as Viagra, Cialis or Levitra for impotence, in addition to Priligy and Stud 100 spray for premature ejaculation. Women’s bedroom issues are often overlooked and ignored, but not for much longer!

The creators Emotional Brain were founded in 2001 primarily to pioneer innovative health care. A lot of their work is targeted at researching women’s sexual health. The twelve years following, many experts have tried to find causes for Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) and targeted therapy to treat the problem.

Unfortunately, previous treatments have been found relatively ineffective as female libido is commonly linked to psychological issues and not merely physical factors.

Emotional Brain believes they may have created something to beat the problem through two-in-one pills that will target both the body and brain.

The pills will be sized smaller than a typical aspirin and Lybrido will be comprised of a Viagra-like drug coated in a testosterone and will have a minty taste. Both components may be weak to combat low libido separately, but the testosterone-coating that melts in the mouth followed by a delayed-release of the Viagra-type substance.

Lyrbridos however will have its Viagra-like molecule replaced buspirone; an anti-anxiety medication that increases levels of the hormone serotonin. Unlike Viagra, Lybridos targets brain areas associated with sexual desire, encouraging the brain to realign with intimacy.

U.S. trials have finished involving more than 200 women have recently been completed, and Emotional Brain founder Adriaan Tuiten states the results from both drugs are ‘very, very promising’.
Dr Tuiten was prompted to research into female emotions after having his heart broken by an ex-girlfriend whilst he was in his 20s. It is his belief that the treatments will be a massive hit especially amongst women who have been married for many years and for whom sex may have lost the appeal and become stale over time.

Dr Tuiten says up to 43% of women experience a low sex drive at some point in their lives and has alleviated fears that the new drugs wills turn women into sex-crazed nymphomaniacs, stating that the treatments will work at simply increasing low-libido to more ‘normal’ levels.

Herbal slimming pill could be Viagra for women

A large number of women who have taken an herbal weight loss drug called Vita-Lean

Have reported an increase in there sexual desire of up to 90%, much the same way as

Viagra works.

The Metro newspaper reports on a lady called Sarah Marshall who said she took Vita-Lean to lose weight ‘and managed to lose a stone in under a month’. ‘But she noticed a side-effect in so far as it’s restored my sex life to the full.

It is believed a key natural ingredient; Irvingia Gabonensis – an extract of the African mango, eaten for its health benefits – could be responsible. A tea-based infusion of the extract has been used for centuries in Africa as an aphrodisiac.

Richard Wylie, the managing director of Vitagetics, the product’s British distributor, stressed the ‘side effect’ was harmless.

‘To a large extent, it could be a placebo but, nevertheless, could benefit many relationships,’ he added.

Vita-Lean promises to help women drop a dress size in just three weeks by tricking the body’s metabolism into staying active. The pill – already a hit in the US – is available online and does not need a prescription.