Cindy Eckert is passionate about many things. One of the first things on her list is sexual desire.
Eckert is the founder and CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, the company behind the first and only FDA-approved pill for women. Hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD)or low sexual desire.
Eckert made history when the drug flibanserin (Addyi) was approved. But, as with many advances in women’s health care, the road wasn’t easy. For one, it took Eckert six years to get FDA approval for Addyi. To put that in perspective, Viagra was approved in six months (more on that below).
In 2015, Eckert sold Sprout Pharmaceuticals for $1 billion. But when the company that acquired it failed to launch the drug, Eckert couldn’t just walk away and let all those rosy possibilities collect dust somewhere. In 2018, she reclaimed her CEO position and launched Addyi herself.
The “pink pill” revolutionized the medical industry, but it is just one of the projects Eckert is part of. She is also the founder and CEO of The pink ceilingan organization run by The Pinkubator, which helps fund innovations in women’s health care. Case in point: the world’s first disposable pregnancy test.
Perhaps what Eckert is most passionate about is helping women succeed. As you can probably imagine, our “15 minutes” turned into nearly an hour talking about everything from low libido to what we can expect from The Pinkubator in the near future.
Below is our interview, edited for clarity and length.
Healthy Women: It took the FDA six years to approve Addyi. Why did it take six months to approve Viagra?
Cindy Eckert: It’s very simple. Culturally, we value sexual satisfaction for men and discount it for women. I think that’s a historical truth. I’d like to say it’s changing, but for the blue pill to receive the rare fast-track approval in six months, male sexual satisfaction was considered such a significant unmet medical need that we looked at a solution for it on an accelerated timeline.
Erectile dysfunction is the most common sexual dysfunction in men. HSDD is the most common. sexual dysfunction In women, however, it took just six months compared to six years for a treatment for erectile dysfunction to be approved. This says a lot about how we have valued sexual satisfaction for men compared to women. And really, when you think about the data, more women than men suffer from sexual dysfunction. 43% of women versus 31% of menBut we do not see it as an important need and that is why innovation is left behind.
Healthy Women: Judging by comments online and on social media, it seems that many women don’t even know that sexual dysfunction exists: they believe that loss of sexual desire is simply part of aging.
Cindy Eckert: In terms of women’s health, I would like to replace the word Ruleme with commonThere’s a big survey done by a woman named Marcella Hill, and she’s been very open online about her libido… She said she felt dead inside. She asked her doctor if there was anything she could do. And she asked other women what their doctors told them. And most of them [of the doctors] The women were told that their lack of interest in sexual desire was normal. They were told to find another partner and schedule a date night.
Neither of them said it could be biological, and for that, we have a solution. Again, we can have conversations about dating and stuff, but not at the expense of biology.
Healthy Women: After the FDA approved Addyi, you sold the company for $1 billion (huge congratulations!). You have since taken the company back and relaunched the drug on your own terms. Why was this important to you?
Cindy Eckert: It was an entrepreneur’s dream come true to find a global company that could do this. [drug] Accessible to all women who needed it, but for reasons of their own company, they never launched it. I felt devastated.
I felt deeply that I was letting women down because I was lucky enough that so many women had shared their stories with me and people let their guard down and shared something very personal. So I just decided: not on my watch.
So I’m very proud to have come back to the company. I said, “Thank you. Give it back to me. I’m going to launch it.” And now, to see how many women’s lives it’s already improved. That’s what it’s always been about, right?
I certainly didn’t do this to get a drug approved. I did it so that we could level the playing field by changing the conversation about women and sex, and so that women who need help can easily get it.
Healthy Women: What kept you going during the tough times?
Maybe I should have known that the road to the first female pleasure drug would be bumpy. But I didn’t know that. Yeah, honestly, I didn’t know that. I was excited. It’s science. It’s clinical trials. It’s proving something.
Science has driven me to keep going.
Healthy Women: Tell us one thing you want women to know about Addyi.
Cindy Eckert: It’s not female Viagra, it’s much more interesting! Addyi is believed to act on the brain’s impulse center, resulting in more sexual desire, less anxiety, and ultimately more satisfying sex.
The fact that the only thing the media could compare us to when we were approved was the most famous male sex drug has sometimes created a ridiculous misunderstanding about the difference between the blue pill and the pink pill.
Once women and doctors understand how Addyi works, they understand that Addyi is not about demanding sex, but about getting the brain’s desire and stress center into an optimal place when the time is right.
Healthy Women: Have you noticed a change in the way we view women’s sexual health since you began your journey with Addyi?
Cindy Eckert: The change that is taking place in women’s health is undeniable and it is because women are demanding more. I would love to say that it is because the medical world has woken up and is proactively discussing this issue with women. That is not true. Women are coming in and demanding, quite frankly, what they deserve.
Literally, the first headlines about Addyi were along the lines of “Female Viagra… isn’t that jewelry?”. That would have been unthinkable less than a decade ago. Today, women tag their partners in Addyi ads and publicly declare, “This is me!”
Healthy Women: Tell us about the idea behind The Pink Ceiling.
Cindy Eckert: Well, it’s everything I wanted but didn’t have access to when I was building companies. As a founder, I can achieve an outcome and I can reach out and make more founders achieve it, and they can reach out and make more founders achieve it.
I am so grateful that people share with me their crazy ideas about how they want to change the world. I consider it a huge privilege to be able to do that and hopefully contribute in some way to changing women’s health in a much bigger way.
Healthy Women: What can we expect to see next from The Pinkubator?
Cindy Eckert: One of our companies just got clearance for a device that will revolutionize epidurals. It’s a spinal mapping device that will guide you to exactly the right spot the first time. It will change the patient experience and, frankly, it will change the cost of healthcare.
Healthy Women: What is your advice for the next innovator or person who wants to start a new career later in life?
Cindy Eckert: You’ll never look back when you bet on yourself. I think people would be surprised at how willing others are to help them if they just ask. And look at social media. Maybe not everyone will respond to you, but what’s the harm in trying?
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