Nearly two-thirds of women would take a female 'Viagra' if one was available, according to new study by Kiwi and Swiss researchers.
A pill - Addyi - has been on the market in the US since 2015, but uptake has been extremely slow. Not only does it have to be taken daily, but it costs US$800 (NZ$1100) a month and cannot be mixed with alcohol.
It's also had limited success in trials, showing "minimal improvement to no change" at all for women taking it.
Researchers from the Auckland University of Technology and the University of Zurich wanted to find out if women even wanted a pill "designed to enhance their sexual performance".
Turns out they do.
Nearly 160 Swiss women aged between 18 and 73 took part in the research. Three-quarters were in a relationship, a quarter single.
Fifty-five percent said they were "rather willing" to pop a sex pill, if it worked - while 6 percent would "definitely" take it.
The most common reason given was to increase orgasm frequency, followed by increasing orgasm intensity and increasing sexual desire.
About half said the effect should last up to an hour, while 41 percent said 15 minutes would suffice. An adventurous 7 percent wanted the effect to last a day or more.
As for how much they're willing to pay, it's significantly less than the US$800 Addyi costs. One-off pills could cost up to US$9.75 (NZ$13.50) without putting most women off.
Of the 39 percent who weren't keen, almost half said they just didn't want to take a pill, and a third were already satisfied with their sex lives. Ten percent feared the side-effects, while only 5 percent doubted it would even work.
The happier women were in their existing relationships, the less likely they were to want a sex pill.
In contrast to men, who've had access to Viagra since the late 1990s, the researchers said the "complex nature of women's sexual desire… might be less receptive to biomedical intervention".
The research was published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine on Friday.
Newshub.
