The Pink Pill: A Journey Through Women's Sexual Health

Cindy Eckert, a woman who loves pink, is the CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals. Her company makes a drug called Addyi, which helps women with low sex drive. This condition is known as hypoactive sexual desire disorder (H. S. D. D. ). Addyi is often called the "little pink pill" and is different from Viagra because it affects neurotransmitters, not blood flow. Eckert faced a lot of criticism when she first tried to get Addyi approved by the FDA. Some people thought she was trying to turn normal changes in women's sex drive into a medical problem. Others didn't like her colorful style, thinking it was a distraction from the scientific debates about her product. When she sold her company for $1 billion, and the new owners raised the price and stopped promoting Addyi, her critics thought she didn't care about patients. But a decade later, things have changed. More than 30, 000 doctors now prescribe Addyi, and over half a million prescriptions have been filled. Women are talking more openly about their sex lives, and Eckert's drug is benefiting from this cultural shift. She believes that culture has finally caught up with her vision. Eckert's journey started when she met Dr. Irwin Goldstein at a conference. He showed her videos of women who had been part of a clinical trial for flibanserin, the active ingredient in Addyi. These women were upset that they would no longer have access to a treatment that helped them. Eckert was inspired to take up the cause and founded Sprout Pharmaceuticals with her then-husband, Bob Whitehead. The FDA approved Addyi in 2015, but with strict regulations. Doctors and pharmacists had to get special certification to prescribe and dispense it, and women had to sign a waiver promising to abstain from alcohol while taking it. However, the company that acquired Sprout, Valeant, imploded within a year, causing Eckert to feel like she had let everyone down. But Eckert didn't give up. In 2016, Sprout's former investors sued Valeant for failing to market Addyi. Two years later, Valeant gave the company back to Eckert in exchange for 6 percent of the royalties and a $25 million loan. Today, Sprout operates out of an unremarkable office building, but the team is small and close-knit, with some of Eckert's family members working there. The cultural and regulatory landscape has changed significantly since Eckert won back Sprout. The FDA has lifted many of its constraints on Addyi, making it more accessible to patients. The drug is now on track to double its revenue this year, and it has gained celebrity supporters like Jennie Garth and Gwyneth Paltrow. Despite the progress, there are still skeptics who question the effectiveness of Addyi. Some argue that the drug's benefits over placebos are limited and that there are other ways to help women with low sex drive. Eckert has also faced regulatory issues, with the FDA sending her warning letters over ads that didn't disclose all of Addyi's risk factors. Eckert is now working on a new campaign to expose what she says is a lack of parity in the way insurers cover drugs targeting women's health conditions versus men's. As Addyi's profile has grown, so has the interest from potential acquirers. But Eckert is hesitant to walk away, especially now that her company has finally hit its stride.