FDA Looks at P&G's Sex-Drive Drug

Updated from 10:33 a.m. EST

Staff members of the Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday issued a report raising several questions about an experimental drug from Procter & Gamble(PG Quote) designed to improve sexual desire in menopausal women whose ovaries have been surgically removed.

The report, which asks questions about P&G's data as well as potential safety issues, comes one day before an FDA advisory committee meets to review the drug called Intrinsa. It's a transdermal patch that transmits the hormone testosterone. The FDA staff routinely issues a report a day before advisory committees meet, asking the panels to examine a range of safety, efficacy and testing issues based on the companies' applications.

Sometimes the staff recommends approval of a product; sometimes it recommends rejection. For Intrinsa, the staff made no recommendation on a drug that many analysts say could become a female equivalent of Viagra, the erectile dysfunction drug made by Pfizer(PFE Quote). ...