Do drugs have a role in turning indifference into passion?
BMJ 2010; 341 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.c5532 (Published 05 October 2010) Cite this as: BMJ 2010;341:c5532- Nigel Hawkes
- 1London
There’s nothing new about medicalising relationship problems. From Donizetti’s opera L’Elisir d’Amore to Leiber and Stoller’s song “Love Potion No 9,” romantics have long been in search of a magic pill to turn indifference into passion.
But is this a proper objective for a drug company? In a debate on 4 October organised by the BMJ, many objections were raised to the idea that female sexual difficulties could be treated with a pill, and the drug companies that are trying to achieve such a drug were given only muted and minority support.
Held to coincide with the publication of Ray Moynihan’s new book, Sex, Lies and Pharmaceuticals, and the development by Boehringer Ingelheim of a drug, flibanserin, for female sexual dysfunction, the debate plunged into murky …
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