Valeant’s “female viagra” pill flops with just 227 prescriptions in first month
After a turbulent few weeks of allegations relating to its pricing and sales techniques, Canadian pharmaceutical giant Valeant has suffered yet another setback.
Its new female libido-enhancing drug Addyi, dubbed the “female viagra”, was prescribed just 227 times during its first month on the US market, according to reports. Valeant was not immediately available to comment on the figure.
This is a major step down from the relative success of the Pfizer's male viagra pill, which was prescribed to over half a million men during its first month after launch in 1998.
Addyi, which fell into Valeant's hands when it purchased creator Sprout Pharmaceuticals for $1bn (£660m) in August, has been controversial from the start. Trials indicated it improves sexual desire in just 10 per cent of women, while it can also cause very negative side effects such as severely low blood pressure and fainting.
Read more: Five things you should know about the world's first pill for women's sex drive
For this reason, the FDA rejected the tablet twice before – once in 2009 and once in 2013. But after facing pressure from a variety of activist groups, it finally gave the green light in summer this year. The tablet was made available for prescription in the US on 17 October.
The poor performance of the drug is just the latest in a string of blows to the company in recent weeks, with shares plummeting since the start of September.
First there was political pressure to stop implementing sharp price rises on its medicines, then came allegations of aggressive sales techniques, and most recently of controlling a fraudulent pharmacy group, Philidor.
This led Valeant to completely sever ties with Philidor at the end of October. Chief executive Michael Pearson said:
We have lost confidence in Philidor's ability to continue to operate in a manner that is acceptable to Valeant and the patients and doctors we serve.