Sexual Health Treatment. Private. Fast. Judgment-Free.
Doctor-prescribed STD and sexual health medications delivered discreetly to your door.
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DoxyPep 100mg
Post-exposure prophylaxis to help prevent bacterial STIs.
- Take Within 72 Hours
- Cuts Bacterial STI Risk
- Simple As-Needed Dose
Metronidazole 500mg
Antibiotic for bacterial vaginosis and trichomoniasis.
- Treats BV & Trich
- Proven Antibiotic
- Short Treatment Course
Valacyclovir 500mg
Antiviral that controls and suppresses herpes outbreaks.
- Controls Outbreaks
- Daily Suppression Option
- Reduces Transmission
Viagra belongs to a drug class called PDE-5 inhibitors, as do Cialis, Levitra, and other drugs approved to treat erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. PDE-5 inhibitors, as the term suggests, inhibit the action of an enzyme called PDE-5, and the ultimate result of this is blood vessels to the penis can relax and open up more, making it easier to get and maintain an erection. In other words, Viagra and its competitors deal with the “hydraulics” of the circulatory system.
Addyi doesn’t affect the mechanics of getting blood flow to the female sexual system, but works on a completely different principle. It is designed to subtly alter the levels of two neurochemicals, serotonin and dopamine, essentially priming the brain for greater sexual desire when taken regularly long-term. So the two main differences between Addyi and Viagra are 1) Addyi works on the brain while Viagra works on the penis and 2) Addyi is taken regularly and long-term, while Viagra is taken as needed.
What a Man Must Do to Obtain Viagra
Viagra has been around since 1998, and because it has been so overwhelmingly popular from day one, plenty of data has been collected to establish a track record for the drug’s effectiveness and safety profile. Therefore, the typical man who wants to try Viagra can book an appointment with his primary care physician (or a urologist), describe his symptoms, and unless something in his history or exam contraindicates it, he’ll walk out with a prescription for Viagra and possibly a couple of free sample pills to try out.
Men who take drugs like nitroglycerin to treat heart disease aren’t supposed to take Viagra or any of the other PDE-5 inhibitors. The combination of these drugs can cause a man’s blood pressure to take a nosedive, resulting in fainting, and potentially death, though that is extremely rare. Doctors who prescribe Viagra may encourage men to take steps to improve cardiac health or get their blood sugar under control, but for the most part, getting a prescription for Viagra is a straightforward process.
What a Woman Must Do to Obtain Addyi
First of all, not just any doctor can prescribe Addyi. Those who do must undergo online certification because of rules about the drug issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Moreover, not just any pharmacy can dispense Addyi. Pharmacies too must go through a certification process in order to be allowed to dispense the drug.
Assuming a woman locates a doctor certified to prescribe Addyi, depending on her insurance, she may be required to visit a psychiatrist before getting a prescription, the reasoning being that Addyi alters brain chemistry similarly to how antidepressants do. Additionally, some insurers require that a woman try an antidepressant called bupropion first. One of the side effects of bupropion can be increased sexual desire, and bupropion is a far less expensive drug. If a woman jumps through all these hoops and still wants Addyi, her insurance may cover it. Some insurance plans, however, don’t cover the drug at all. (And in fairness, some insurers, including Medicare, don’t cover Viagra or other PDE-5 inhibitors.)
Why Insurers Balk at Covering Addyi
The main reason insurers don’t want to cover Addyi is because it is expensive. Whereas a month’s supply of Viagra might cost a couple hundred dollars depending on a patient’s needs and dosage, a month’s supply of Addyi costs $800. Insurers, however, steer the argument away from price, and toward the issue of effectiveness.
Addyi, they say, only got FDA approval by the skin of its teeth. It took three tries to gain FDA approval, and the FDA finally made that approval contingent upon a black box warning on packaging, and on doctors and pharmacies obtaining certification to prescribe and dispense the drug. Doctors and patients argue that bupropion has its own black box warning (which has to do with the drug being inappropriate for children, teenagers, and possibly for young adults), yet it’s one of the most frequently prescribed antidepressants in the US.
Insurers also argue that Addyi simply doesn’t work that well – certainly not well enough to justify an $800 price point. Indeed, the improvements in female libido in women taking Addyi during trials were marginal, and plenty of women weren’t helped by the drug. So the insurance companies’ reasoning is typically, “This drug costs $800, doesn’t work that well, and comes with all these prescribing rules. We’re not going to go out of our way to cover it.”
Investors in Sprout Pharmaceuticals Blame Buyer Valeant
Addyi gained FDA approval under a small drug startup called Sprout Pharmaceuticals. Basically, as soon as the drug was approved by the FDA, a larger pharmaceutical company called Valeant bought Sprout Pharmaceuticals for $1 billion plus a share of future profits. However, Valeant, once a Wall Street favorite, has had some serious problems over the past year. The main issue was some rather unorthodox accounting practices that made the company look a lot healthier than it actually was.
In April, Valeant CEO Michael Pearson stepped down and was replaced by Joseph C. Papa, former CEO of Perrigo pharmaceuticals. As you might imagine, with the financial whirlwind going on at Valeant, the company didn’t really have time to prioritize promotion of its new drug for female hypoactive sexual desire disorder.
Original investors in Sprout Pharmaceuticals aren’t happy about it, and lay much of the blame for Addyi’s problems on Valeant’s decision to double the suggested price point of the drug from $400 to $800, pricing they refer to as “predatory.” Sprout investors also allege that Valeant is not devoting enough sales representatives to Addyi, with the result being dismal sales figures.
Is the Situation Likely to Change?
If pharmaceutical researchers come up with a “female Viagra” that really is analogous to actual Viagra – that’s taken as-needed and works reliably – then things could change for women seeking relief from low sexual desire. But as long as the options for treating low libido in pre-menopausal women are limited to tweaking brain chemistry in hopes of sparking increased desire, and unless Valeant puts some muscle behind its promotion of Addyi, it’s not likely that things will change much. Even then, the price structure for Addyi will continue to rub insurers the wrong way unless it’s changed significantly. So if you’re a woman who would like to try Addyi, be prepared to take numerous steps to get the drug, and even more to get your insurance to help pay for it.
Some doctors and patients say that the FDA and insurance companies’ aversion to Addyi is down to plain sexism. Men want Viagra, they can essentially ask their doctor for a prescription and get it with no trouble. Many insurers cover it to some degree. Yet women must go to significantly more trouble to address their own sexual problems, and some people perceive this as sexist.
Others say it’s a false analogy. If Addyi was like Viagra in that you could take it, enjoy sex, and then take it again next time you needed it, maybe those extra steps would be sexist. But Addyi is so overwhelmingly different from Viagra that making comparisons between the two is disingenuous at best. But the unfortunate bottom line is that women who experience sexual dysfunction have far fewer treatment choices than men do for ED.
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