London - Women could soon be able to buy their own version of Viagra.
The pill, called Lybrido, is said to increase a woman’s desire for sex, and make it more satisfying when it happens.
It uses a combination of testosterone and a Viagra-like drug, which work on both the brain and body to boost flagging libido.
With trial results described as “very impressive”, it could be on bedside cabinets within three years.
But experts warned that the firms which make it will be under pressure to prove that the drug will not turn women into nymphomaniacs.
With worldwide sales of Viagra at nearly £1.5-billion a year, scientists have long tried to create a version for the female market.
But previous attempts have failed to make the grade, because low female libido often stems from psychological as much as physical factors.
Dutch firm Emotional Brain believes it has cracked the problem with a two-in-one pill, which should be taken three and a half hours before sex.
Smaller than an aspirin, it contains a Viagra-like drug in a testosterone and mint coating.
Separately, neither drug can lift flagging female libido but, together, they are said to provide the necessary boost.
The physical effect of Viagra magnifies the effect of testosterone on the brain’s pleasure centres.
A trial involving more than 200 women in the US has just finished. The full results are still under wraps but Emotional Brain founder Adriaan Tuiten describes them as “very, very promising”.
Dr Tuiten began researching female emotion after a girlfriend broke his heart when he was in his 20s.
He said that with the drug, women made love more often and were more likely to reach orgasm. But some suffered side-effects including headaches and flushing of the face or neck.
He now plans to carry out a larger trial, and hopes to put the drug on the market in Europe and the US at the end of 2016.
Dr Tuiten believes the pills will be most popular with long-married women, for whom sex may have become a bore.
But some doctors have warned the pills may be a little too much in demand.
Dr Andrew Goldstein, a US expert in female sexual health, told the New York Times that drug companies such as Emotional Brain will be under pressure to prove they are not turning women into nymphomaniacs.
Some experts fear Lybrido will put women under pressure to perform, while others are sceptical about whether the pills can boost female sex drive.
They point out that a tablet is not going to fix a broken relationship or ease the stresses of work and childcare.
Dr Tuiten says that up to 43 percent of women suffer from a low sex drive at some point in their lives and that, far from turning women into sex maniacs, the drug will simply raise a low libido to normal levels.
Dr Mike Wyllie, one of the team of scientists that discovered and developed the male impotence drug Viagra, described Lybrido as “an interesting concept”. - Daily Mail