MAYBE women just don’t have as many problems in the sack as men.
Addyi, the new female libido pill, was all but ignored in its first few weeks on the United States market — in quite a contrast to the way men made a mad dash to their doctors in 1998 when Viagra debuted, according to a report on Tuesday.
Marketed as the “little pink pill,” Addyi, made by Valeant Pharmaceuticals’ Sprout unit, appears to be off to a slow start, with doctors writing just 227 prescriptions in its first four weeks on the market, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Over the same period of time 17 years ago, more than half a million men got prescriptions for Viagra, according to data from IMS Health.
The apparent slow start for Addyi sales could signal a giant let-down for Valeant, which paid $1 billion for the 34-employee Sprout one day after it got FDA approval on the drug in August 2014.
Valeant Chief Executive Michael Pearson said at the time of the acquisition that his company would make the drug the centrepiece of its women’s health business.
Addyi, Mr Pearson said, was the company’s first step in building a “new portfolio of important medications that uniquely impact women.”
The day after Addyi won approval — on its third attempt — Sprout Pharmaceuticals chief executive Cindy Whitehead appeared on CBS This Morning and said: “Yesterday science won and so, too, did women.”
The pink pill was approved to treat hypoactive sexual desire disorder, which Whitehead said affects “one in 10 women.”
Many thought there would be a rush to get the pill.
“I thought there was going to be this huge onslaught,” Stephanie Faubion, director of the Women’s Health Clinic at the Mayo Clinic told Bloomberg.
“There have been a few casual inquiries, but no prescriptions yet.”
To be sure, Valeant’s marketing and sales team may not yet be at full strength. The company had cleared just 5,600 doctors to prescribe Addyi as of November 10, Mr Pearson said on an earnings call.
That’s only 1 per cent of the roughly 470,000 obstetrician-gynaecologists and primary care doctors in the US.
And Sprout promised the FDA it would not advertise the drug by name for 18 months.
A Valeant spokesperson on Tuesday would not confirm the sales numbers in the report, which were attributed to Bloomberg Intelligence data.
On November 9, Mr Pearson said in a conference call that Valeant had $25 million in orders for the drug. He did not elaborate.
With the drug wholesaling for about $800 for a month’s supply, according to Sprout, that would come to more than 30,000 prescriptions.
Addyi’s proponents point out that Viagra and the little pink pill work differently.
Viagra treats the physical inability of men to get an erection by promoting immediate blood flow to the penis.
Addyi works on the brain. It needs to be taken daily and can’t be combined with alcohol.
Amanda Lanier Blackie is one of the early Addyi users and pays $20 for a month’s supply for the drug through a co-pay and Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance.
Addyi is cheaper than Cialis, a Viagra rival, which has a co-pay of $100 for 3 pills — not a month’s supply.
“My husband wouldn’t be satisfied with that,” she told The New York Post.
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