Cindy Eckert On Addyi, An FDA-Approved Drug For Women's Sexual Desire

Millions of women suffer from hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSSD), which causes low sex drive and high stress. Because of this, Cindy Eckert made the first drug for women’s sexual desire, called Addyi.

“There were 26 FDA-approved drugs for some form of male sexual dysfunction. But not a single one for women, until we broke through in 2015,” she explained. “We readily accept that if something goes wrong in the bedroom for men, it’s biological. If something goes wrong for women in the bedroom, we think it’s psychological.”

Eckert left her job at a company selling male sex drugs in 2011, to create a company that developed a drug for low libido in women. Her company Sprout Pharmaceuticals created Addyi — a daily pill that helps restore women’s sex drive.

The drug officially hit shelves in June 2018. Eckert also started her own investment fund called The Pink Ceiling to raise money for women-led companies.

“My tagline is I’m going to make women really f*cking rich,” she said. “I was gonna help female founders just like myself who get only two percent of venture funding. I take my own money and my network of people who’ve invested in my companies, and expose them to outstanding products by or for women.”