"A new review httparchinte.jamanetwork.comarticle.aspxarticleid of the little pink pill for women with low sexual desire says the drug doesnt work very well  but some doctors and patients whove been using the treatment disagree. The drug Addyi or flibanserin http has been on the market since October.  The data presented in this review suggests that the meaningful change caused by flibanserin is minimal according to the team of Dutch researchers.  The researchers looked at eight studies on Addyi that together included nearly  women. They said for women using the drug the number of additional satisfying sexual events averaged out to about . per month. The agency asked Sprout Pharmaceuticals which makes Addyi to do more studies on the interaction between Addyi and alcohol.  An editorial  httparchinte.jamanetwork.comarticle.aspxarticleidaccompanying the article published in JAMA Internal Medicine questioned the FDAs approval of the drug. The FDA approved a marginally effective drug for a nonlifethreatening condition in the face of substantial  and unnecessary  uncertainty about its dangers wrote Dr. Steven Woloshin and Dr. Lisa Schwartz at the Center for Medicine and the Media at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.  The researchers said the drug had significant known side effects such as dizziness sleepiness and nausea. The FDA approved Addyi http last August with a black box warning to highlight the risks of severe low blood pressure and fainting when patients drink alcohol take certain drugs or have liver problems.  I was amazed  Some doctors and patients whove been using Addyi say the drug has been helpful. There are no other FDAapproved treatments for women suffering from low sexual desire.  Female Viagra could be the biggest libido booster since...Viagra http Dr. Lauren Streicher medical director of the Center for Sexual Medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago said the results cited in the Dutch study are averages and while Addyi doesnt work for everyone many of her patients have benefited from it.  She says shes written Addyi prescriptions for about  women and three or four have emailed her back to say its worked. They say Oh my God this has changed my life. Things are wonderful Streicher said.  Jodi Cole a yearold stayathome mother from Porter Oklahoma said before she started taking Addyi she didnt want to have sex with her husband Matt. I love my husband and I believe God created emotional and sexual intimacy as key components of marriage. So we had sex usually a couple of times a week. And while I was willing part of me dreaded it. Every time Cole wrote in an email to CNN.  Cole said she started taking Addyi in November and within six weeks felt a difference. I was amazed she wrote. I actually enjoyed being intimate and for the first time in a long time felt that connection with Matt.  She said for her it wasnt about increasing the quantity of sex she was having but rather the quality. What Addyi does is give just enough support so I can think about that part of our relationship with anticipation of pleasure rather than anxiety she wrote. She understands Addyi can have side effects but said women should be able to choose to take it just as men choose to take Viagra despite its side effects.  I should be able to choose whether the side effects are worth the benefit she wrote.  The controversy over Addyi  Seldom has one pill raised such controversy among medical professionals.  Doctors who treat women with low libidos tore apart the JAMA study. Streicher an associate professor of clinical obstetrics and gynecology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine said the study drew erroneous conclusions.   myths about female Viagra busted http The International Society for the Study of Womens Sexual Health went even further calling the study a great disservice to the millions of premenopausal women suffering from hypoactive sexual desire disorder.  The doctors had several problems with the studys methodology including that three of the eight studies the Dutch researchers analyzed were not published. When studies are published they go through a peer review process to assess whether the study methodology is sound.  One of those studies used a dosage of the drug that was half as high as what the FDA approved.  Dr. Loes Jasper one of the authors of the Dutch analysis said she and her colleagues removed the results from that study and still found that Addyis affects were minimal.  She said she and her colleagues included the results of the unpublished studies because sometimes negative studies of a drug dont get published.  Join the conversation See the latest news and share your comments with CNN Health on Facebook https and Twitter httpstwitter.comcnnhealth. We included all published and unpublished studies to capture a complete overview of the benefits and risks of flibanserin without bias Jaspers wrote in an email to CNN.  According to the FDA which looked at three clinical trials of Addyi that included about  women about  more patients treated with Addyi reported meaningful improvements in satisfying sexual events sexual desire or reduced distress compared to women taking a placebo.  In their editorial Woloshine and Schwartz said Sprout and others put pressure on FDA to approve the drug.  While it is unclear how strongly politics influenced the decision it is clear that the science was weak they wrote. We all need a drug approval process that delivers good decisions based on adequate evidence."