15 Minutes With: Sabrina Johnson Talks Treatment for Female Sexual Arousal Disorder

October is Menopause Awareness Month.

You’ve probably heard of a little blue pill called Viagra that’s prescribed for men with erectile dysfunction.

But can you name a treatment for sexual arousal disorder that’s made for women?

No?

Despite the fact that as many as half of all women worldwide experience female sexual dysfunction, we rarely talk about it and treatments certainly aren’t a household name.

Sabrina Johnson wants to change that.

As the founder, president and CEO of Daré Bioscience, Johnson and her team are behind the first vaginal cream clinically proven to increase gential flow and arousal in people with female sexual arousal disorder (FSAD).

The DARE to PLAY arousal cream will be available later this year and it’s just one of the products exclusively focused on women’s health that Daré Bioscience has in the works.

Of course, we wanted to know everything. We talked with Johnson about her passion for innovation in women’s healthcare and how people can get their hot little hands on the new arousal cream.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

HealthyWomen: DARE to PLAY is a “first-of-its-kind female arousal cream.” What makes it unique?

Sabrina Johnson: First and foremost, it’s specifically designed for women, which is unique.

But to take a step back, it’s a topical sildenafil cream. Sildenafil is the same active ingredient that men have had access to for almost three decades in oral erectile dysfunction medications, specifically Viagra.

So, by delivering sildenafil locally — directly to the genital tissue — we’re able to really target blood flow in the area that matters most for arousal in women and avoid systemic exposure. That in and of itself is very unique, but I think most important is that it’s actually backed by science.

We evaluated the formulation in the first-ever, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for a topical treatment for female sexual arousal disorder and submitted the results to the FDA. And that was a large study of 200 women experiencing symptoms of arousal disorder, which is reduced and lost sensations as well as frustration about the symptoms, and the results showed that the side effect was very similar in the cream with the sildenafil to the placebo cream — so no serious concerns there, which is great.

Most importantly, it showed that women using the product experienced increased genital arousal sensations — which is the primary thing we were looking for — but also improved sexual desire and orgasm as well as reduced feelings of sexual distress.

It’s very exciting. It’s a science-backed approach — finally — available for women. And I think, because it’s something we don’t talk about, we forget that it’s a condition that affects millions of women and it’s had no real innovation.

Read: Yes, Middle-Aged Women Do Want to Have Sex >>

HW: Can anyone try the sildenafil cream?

Johnson: It is a prescription product, so women will want to — and need to — talk with their healthcare provider to get it. That’s important because arousal concerns can have a lot of causes — physical, hormonal, psychological, relational and also, even though the safety profile has been established, sildenafil is the active ingredient, so healthcare providers can help women make sure it’s going to be the right product for them.

We definitely see sildenafil cream being an important tool in the toolbox for women who are experiencing difficulty with sexual arousal, and specifically for people where increasing that genital blood flow could be important.

The product isn’t available for prescription until later this year, but people can already get more information on the website and talk to their healthcare providers to see if it will be appropriate for them once it is available.

HW: As the founder of Daré Bioscience, why was sildenafil cream an important product for you to get behind?

Johnson: When I founded Daré Bioscience, we really wanted to build a company that was laser-focused on those areas of unmet need in women’s health that have been historically overlooked, and sexual health stood out immediately because there’s so much need. It’s so widespread and yet at the same time it’s so invisible.

When I saw the opportunity to take a drug that was so well-known and understood but apply it in a new way and localized topical delivery for women, I saw right away it could be a real breakthrough.

It’s rare to find innovation that is both rooted in solid science but also has the potential to really shift cultural conversations. This product is both of those things.

As a company, it’s something we wanted to get behind right away. It stands for everything that we’re trying to do as a company.

HW: What was your inspiration to start the company?

Johnson: I’m female and I’ve always believed that women deserve better when it comes to healthcare and have experienced myself where too often our needs — women’s needs — are treated as secondary or an afterthought and I saw that in the pharmaceutical industry, which is where new medicines come from.

The pharmaceutical industry was leaning out, and I really wanted to create a company that would lean in where women’s health is the priority — not the exception.

It wasn’t easy. It meant being bold. We chose the name Daré because “dare” means to be bold enough to take on areas like sexual health, where others might be shying away, as well as contraception and menopause.

The inspiration was really quite simple: Every woman deserves good options. We deserve science that was designed with trust in mind and we wanted to be that change.

HW: Why do you think female sexual health is so significantly underserved?

Johnson: It’s so frustrating because sexual health has historically been neglected in both research, which comes first, but then also in drug development.

I think a big part of it is the cultural taboos, and the taboos around talking about women’s sexual function. In general, there’s been a bias in medical innovation toward men’s conditions — more men are included in research than women.

And that’s what led us to the fact that I just talked about — there have been FDA-approved treatments for erectile dysfunction since the ’90s, while women still have nothing approved for arousal disorder.

I think changing that paradigm really requires elevating women’s voices and investing in research and ensuring that women’s health is viewed as a priority. It’s not a niche — it’s a priority.

HW: What’s your advice for women regarding how they can make their own health a priority?

Johnson: Part of it is giving ourselves permission. We’re often the caregivers of others and we tend to put ourselves last or feel like it’s selfish or self-centered to focus on our health. But it’s not. Our health is foundational.

The other piece of it is feeling confident to just speak up. We’ve been shamed sometimes to not talk about the symptoms we’re experiencing, or to have them be dismissed or minimized because they’re a normal part of life from a very early age — if you get menstrual cramps, it’s like just deal with it.

And also feeling that it’s OK — our voice matters and we don’t need to settle if we’re not getting the answers we want.

There are many healthcare providers who are passionate about making sure women get the treatment options they want and deserve. And if you’re someone with a healthcare provider that you feel is not listening or you feel uncomfortable, there are many more who will take you seriously and get the care you deserve.

HW: What’s in the works at Daré — or what are you seeing in the women’s health space — that has you particularly excited (no pun intended) for consumers?

Johnson: Big picture, I’m excited that we’re finally seeing momentum. These kinds of conversations, which, obviously, you guys do all the time, but from investors, from policymakers, from political constituencies — there are a lot more conversations around treating women’s health as healthcare and as an important part of healthcare.

Specific to Daré, as I said up front, we really try to focus on areas with the greatest unmet need. Beyond the DARE to PLAY cream, I’m super excited about Ovaprene, which could be the first hormone-free monthly birth control option. Ovaprene is something that we’ve just never had before that there’s a lot of demand for.

I’m also really passionate about the work we’re doing around human papillomavirus (HPV), which is the virus that causes cervical cancer, and we’re looking at a new innovation that has potential to treat the virus before it can progress.

HW: One last question. What’s your go-to at a party: Truth or Dare?

Definitely dare. How can I choose otherwise? It’s what we do as a company — we do different things — and being different is at the heart of who I am. So, definitely dare.