So here comes the female Viagra, but is it necessary?

Drugs can cure male impotence but can they fix a lack of desire, asks Rita de Brun.

AS basic instincts go, there’s little more primal than sex. Yet natural as it is, some need help with the firing of desire. While many favour aphrodisiacs such as honey, figs and oysters, others, namely women with low libido, are turning their backs on the foods of love and trying sexual desire drugs instead.

Given the success of Viagra, which generated almost $2bn in worldwide sales in 2010, it’s hardly surprising that pharmaceutical companies have been racing each other to launch a chemical fix for sexually dysfunctional women.