Gynecologist Says Libido-Boosting Drug Flibanserin Is 'Not For Everybody'

The Pill Being Pushed For Women 'Distressed' By Their Low Libido

The FDA is in the process of reviewing flibanserin, a pill that will help boost female libido -- but it won't work for all women across the board.

In a conversation with HuffPost Live on Wednesday, Sex Rx author Dr. Lauren Streicher, who will testify at flibanserin's FDA hearing Thursday, explained that only women suffering from "an imbalance" of dopamine and serotonin will be good candidates for the drug.

"There are lots of different components to what I call the 'libido cocktail,' and this has to do with relationships, with psychology, with hormones, and with these all-important neurotransmitters," Streicher told host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani. "In this specific situation, what we're looking at is people who have intact biology, they have a good relationship, but their neurotransmitters are out of balance."

According to Streicher, the distinction is imperative in assessing who qualifies for the medication.

"I can't keep emphasizing: it's not for everybody," she said. "It's for women who are distressed about their lack of libido, and it's [for] women we can't identify any other cause for it -- who are not going to benefit from talk therapy, who don't have another medical condition."

With this in mind, the author and gynecologist hopes the FDA will finally move to approve the drug.

"This [pill] is for a specific subset of women, and as a sexual medicine expert, it's something I want to be able to offer my patients," she concluded.

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