Unlocking Desire: Cindy Eckert on Women's Sexual Health

You know, when Viagra came out, it was such an important advance in men's health. It was the COVID of Time magazine. And when this came out, we had a discussion about, like, well, do women need it? So that's how we feel about women and sex. I mean, that's how we feel not because we're bad people, but because we are conditioned in so many ways that we're not even conscious of to really not value what I'd say is pleasure for women versus pleasure for men.

Hi, everybody. This is Generations md. My name is Stephanie, and I'm joined here by my colleague Dr. Sarah Davis, who is also my mother.

And we are so excited. Today we have a very special treat for our listeners. If you listen to our podcast, where I talked about going to south by Southwest, I talked about hearing a speaker who made me kind of question all kinds of biases that I had about women's libido. And she was just such an impressive person and speaker that we reached out to her, and she's here on the podcast today. So please welcome Cindy Eckert. She is the founder and CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, who is the maker of Addie, which is the little pink pill for women's libido. And we'll get more into that. But please welcome Cindy.

Ah, thank you for having me. You moved me so much with the podcast you did after South By. It was sent to me, and I'm gonna. I'm gonna confess something right up front. I was sitting there listening to it, and I've been at this work for a little over a decade, and it really did make me tear up. Like, I. I cried a little bit listening to it, because I think what you said was so important, which is we all kind of bring thoughts about women's libido we're not even conscious of to the table. So. So thank you so much for having me on. Never. Incredible and dynamic mother daughter duo in medicine. I'm. I'm here for it. I'm here for it. So thank you for having me.

Yeah, thanks for being here. So we just kind of want to start by giving us a little background about just how you got into this business. Kind of tell us a little bit about your upbringing, what brought you to where you are today?

Thank you so much. Well, I'll tell you what motivates me more than anything else. It's changing people's lives. And so I really feel like coming out of college, I wanted to work for Fortune's most admired company. I was that level of a Nerd. And so I wanted to go learn from the best. And if I could learn from the best, I knew I could go and take that anywhere. And the best at the time, Fortune's most admirer company was Merck, which is a big pharmaceutical company and was in a period of like all of these new category creation, like R and D. And I got into that company and I was like, man, like this is really making a difference in people's lives. But it was a big company. I was like number 4800, you know, whatever number. So I didn't really get to feel my impact so much. So what it started me doing is chasing innovation in smaller and smaller, like pharmaceutical or biotech companies that were working in interesting spaces until I had built up enough of a resume that I, I have an entrepreneurial spirit. I thought, I'm going to do this for myself. I'm going to go my own company. And that company happened to be in male sexual health. So if you're looking at me right now and they're not just hearing me like I look just like a pharmaceutical CEO, right? Like hot pink. I don't exactly fit the stereotype. I was out there like, oh, I'm gonna build it. And I actually loved the area of sex because it's really kind of a newer area in science, relatively speaking. Like a lot of the research and development, the new advances are young and by goodness this makes a huge difference in people's lives. So I was building this company in men quite successfully. I had at the time the only FDA approved long acting testosterone for men. It's a testosterone pellet and that's big business now. And while I was in that space, I was watching presentations on really what it is that unlocks desire or libido for women. And, and I fell in love with it. I fell in love with basically this option for women. So I want to take a pause, but I'd love to tell you more of that story specifically.

Yeah, I'd love to hear more about it. And specifically I kind of want to target like, I guess like the area of sex and this industry. This, you touched on how it's new in science. How did you feel going into that niche, just it being kind of like quote taboo. And then also how did you feel being the only woman in the room when you're talk sex to a room full of men?

You know what, I've developed a very thick skin and I tell very funny jokes. So I'm cocktail parties. But you know, being in that space again, I, I Tease. I was raised Irish Catholic, so I, I tell my mom the reason I'm doing this is because I was raised Irish Catholic. And she says, please stop saying that to people.

I can relate to that. I went to Catholic school and throughout.

Going to Catholic school. So, you know, I, I, it's, none of us would be here without sex. And therefore, like, it's a fascinating part of, you know, the human experience. And I think, you know, the deepest connection that we ever have to another person. So I loved the field. I actually loved running a male company. It was a wild ride because I was such an outlier in that space. But I think I loved it because I saw the impact it made not only on people's individual self confidence and sense of self, but also in their interpersonal relationships, the relationship that is the most important to them with their partner. So here I am running this male company, watching the science emerge on, like, what is it that unlocks desire for women? And it was really as if lightning struck me. Truly, this was like my lightning moment as an entrepreneur. These brain scan images were being presented and the brain scans were taken of women who had this issue. So what is this issue? We've actually known about it medically since 1977. So it's been, it's had a medical term since 1977, which is hypoactive or low sexual desire disorder. Basically, women who were once happy with their sex drive, something changed. That change has been persistent and it bothers them. That's the shorthand for it. So they take women who have described, like, hey, something's off, like, the switch went out. I'm feeling that. I'm not feeling myself. Put them in an mri. Take a woman who's like, no, you know, I'm not on all the time. We're not. None of us are on all the time. I desire ebbs and flows, but, like, I'm happy. Nothing's different with it. Put them both in an MRI and expose them to porn. Their brains light up totally differently.

Wow.

Radically differently. So the first work was done in the Netherlands. It has been repeated all over the world. The most important work in the US was at Stanford. And I'm looking, I'm at a medical conference running this company in men, and I see these brain scans being presented and I'm like, oh, it's biology. It's a hardware issue. So if you imagine for a second if it's true, that I can take medications that depress my sex drive, Right? We all know when people are put on birth control, often Antidepressants. We talk about what that's going to do to your sexual function. It's going to lessen that, you know, drive that desire. Well, then logic would hold that we could also give a medication that would improve it. And that was my lightning moment. I was like, oh, my gosh, it's biology. And, you know, I'm in a space where with men, we readily accept that it's biology. Something goes wrong for men, and we're like, biology, let's fix it. And what I find in medicine so often is that if something goes wrong for women, we go psychology, we lead with emotion, right? And what. When I. When I saw this discovery, I was so excited. I went out to, like, all the biggest researchers in this field in sexual medicine and said, can I talk to your patients who are struggling with this issue? And I spent a year just talking to women, and they all described the same thing to me. They said, you know, it's just, I don't feel like myself. The switch has gone out. I feel disconnected from the person I'm the want to be the most connected to. Like, of course, you know, they made a point, I think, to tell me I love my partner. These weren't relationship issues. Right? This wasn't something fractured in a relationship or anything else. This was people who wanted to be with their partners and frankly, just wanted to want again. And so in talking to them, I. I asked them, like, what have people been saying to you? And it was every single one. It kind of been patted on the shoulder and said, you know, have a bubble bath, just scheduled, date night, wear sexier lingerie. And, you know, in my brain, just being in that space of like, it's biology, it's hardware. Now we've seen it. What that felt like to me is that we were blaming them, not. Not with intention. Right. Nobody did that from a bad place. But we were almost saddling a chore back on them, like, well, if only you would wear sexier lingerie, Only you would schedule late night, only you would relax. And I'm thinking, you know, this is just neurochemistry and we can help them. So that was my moment where I sold off my profitable business. And men and I look back and laugh because it seemed so easy in. In retrospect to running and trying to break through with the first ever medication for women's sex drive. And that was a wild ride through the fda.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

That is, I want to talk about a little bit. We touched on this before, but just you as a physician seeing this Addy come out for the first time, like, how your impression changed from what you thought originally, just thinking, oh, just psychology. To actually realizing it's like a biological thing. Just because I feel like that is what the general public kind of thinks about.

Yeah, yeah. And I did. And, you know, I talked about that, that it was just. There was this whole talk about, oh, women's, you know, sexual health. Like, it's just very, it's very complicated, women's sexual desire. It's based on, you know, how she feels about her partner and other things going on her life and, and all of that, rather than it being more of this bio biology and. And I guess everybody else was saying it, but I, I look back, I'm.

Like, I don't know why.

I, I don. I thought that. Yeah, but people. That was what, you know, I feel like the medical community was saying, and then others outside the medical community as well. And maybe that was all coming from the medical community. I don't know. I don't know. It's a chicken and egg. I don't know which way it started.

And then just with that, it sounds like that was the rhetoric around this, how I, I think you, I mean, you're still pushing to change that. And how have you been able to do that and let that, like, light switch in other people?

It's been a long road, I'm going to tell you that. I mean, we have an awareness issue for sure on the product. And I think, you know, it's a bit of a dagger to the heart to the founder of, like, oh, my gosh, we break through. We break through with a first ever product for an issue that affects millions of women. By the most conservative estimates, 1 in 10 women are struggling in silence about this. And it was fascinating because if you think, you know, I love to ask audiences, have you ever heard of the pink pill for women? It's called Addie. And like, very few people raise their hand. I'm like, have you ever heard of the blue pill for men? And the entire audience raises their hand because if you think about it, you know, when Viagra came out, it was such an important advance in men's health. It was the COVID of Time magazine. And when this came out, we had a discussion about, like, well, do women need it? Yeah, like, how much do women need more sex? How much more sex? And it just, I think, speaks to societal conditioning, you know, that when it's women and sex, it's often like, controversy. Clickbait. So. So it's been very interesting to watch how people have that knee jerk reaction to continue to put women in this, like, psychological box. And I think that's very damaging in medicine in particular. You know, it shows up not only in sex, but postpartum depression. We can have this discussion when you're having a heart attack, when you present with the same symptoms as a man, but you wait longer because we think you're just freaking out, you're just a woman kind of.

Anxiety.

Yeah, it's just anxiety. And so, you know, I would say it's. I have a theory. There's a ten year truth horizon in women's health. We get told a story and, and that story takes a long time in medicine to really sort of reflect on what this is, which is there for millions of women. There could be just a neurochemistry issue for them. We could have solutions in our toolkit. We can still tell them to schedule date night because that's great. We should all do that as well. But we shouldn't be dismissive of that very important thing. So I think, you know, we've just been continuous fighters. When we set out to do this, it wasn't about a medication. It was about changing this narrative about women and sex forever. And, you know, my hope, Stephanie, is your friends at some point are like, why'd you guys even talk about this? You guys crazy? Like, obviously, you know, if men can have 26 different FDA approved treatment options, then surely women can have a few. I mean, I'd like for us to have 26 ourselves. As part of what happened to me when I was running this male company is I'm like, look, I love being in this space. I love sexual medicine. But like, I'm helping men with one of a gazillion different tools when actually women don't have a single tool. And they deserve it as well, because more women than men actually suffer from sexual dysfunction. Can I give you a cliff? I love to give the quick Cliff notes. So when the first medication for ED came out, which we all know is the COVID of Time magazine, when that came out, it was fast tracked for approval. So when you go to the fda, you have a normal timeline. They thought it was so important, this medical advance, it met such an important unmet medical need that it was raced to approval in six months. It took, with the pink pill, six years. And we had three times as many patients worth of data in clinical trials. So that's how we feel about women and sex. I mean, that's how we feel not because we're bad people, but because we are conditioned in so many ways that we're not even conscious of to really not value what I'd say is pleasure for women versus pleasure for men.

Yeah, for sure. And, like, I really appreciate what you're doing. Changing the verdict. I have to share that I sent out a text in one of my girl group chats, just talking about how we were having you on the podcast and everyone was like, wait. I was like, yeah, she owns this company that has this pill, Addy, that helps women's libido. And people are like, wait, I have that issue. People, girls my age, girl, I have that problem. Why don't I. Like, why have I never heard about that?

Wow.

I sent them the website and they're like, oh, wow. Like what? Like, they were just like, oh, I should take this. Like, I should be on it.

So people are lots of surprises here. Right. We studied down to 18 in our clinical trials, so it's truly like, it's indiscriminate across the age bands, across ethnicities, across the world. Whether I pull this data out of Brazil or Australia or the US or, you know, wherever. So many women are struggling with this. About a third of women in. In surveys say that they're struggling with libido issues or desire. Now we start to, like, you know, sort of peel away. Is it a relationship issue? Like, is it actually. Is that the problem? You know, in which case, let's take them out of an equation for needing a medication. Is it a medication that they're taking that's harming their libido? Right. We have to consider that. But for others, again, like I said, by conservative estimates, it's 1 in 10 of us.

Yeah.

That are actually challenged with this.

Yeah. I want to talk a little bit about the neuromechanism and then also just like, research and data. Because again, just going back to how this is such a, like, quote, taboo, niche industry, just like sex research. What was difficulties that you ran into? Just trying to get people to participate, trying to get funding? I think that that is just a thing that is constantly people run into when trying to study these sorts of things. What were some problems that you ran into with that?

You know, honestly, recruiting clinical trials, no problem. You can put this sign up and women are like, me, can I, Can I participate? But funding, totally different story. Now, remember, I built and sold a very successful company in this space in men's sexual health. And when I went around to raise, you know, funding for this, I got laughed out of rooms. Like, all of the guys in their, you know, Blue and gray striped suit. Sitting across from me were like female Viagra. I'm like, actually it's not how it works. First of all, it works on the brain. It's a brain flow issue, not a blood flow issue. Thanks. You know, I can remember so vividly I was in invited to this really important conference, like an investment conference, banking conference in healthcare. And I went thinking like, here it is, like I get to tell my story. I'm going to get funders out of this. And we got like three minutes on the clock, whatever it was eight minutes on the clock and we got a little timer sitting there and I, I start to talk and honestly the whole room started to giggle. It like went like a C across from there, like, oh my God, you know, here's this. And I was panicking because I'm watching my clock countdown and so I remember like reaching over and like fast forwarding to the brain scans and just being silent and pointing and like I was silent long enough for the room to become uncomfortable and get silent. And I said, I'm just here to talk about the biology of sex and women. And everybody's like, done. And then we started going. But it was an important lesson for me to learn. Less than 2% of funding goes to female founders, period.

Wow.

And if you look actually in the like STEM space and science, less than that. And I here I am like the woman in pink doesn't fit the bill for the classical kind of CEO in this space. Very difficult. But luckily, you know, your, your, your curse is sometimes your blessing. Like I raised money from high net worth individuals like brick by brick. Right. Room by room. I need you to introduce me to five of your friends. Thank you so much for your check. I need to meet five of your friends. And because I did it that way, honestly, when it was so challenging to take this to the fda, they hung with me. And that was my, my blessing, I think in the end is that they knew really where my heart was. I won't, I won't stop until I think women know that this is an option for them. They can take it or not take it, but by God, they deserve to know that there are things we can do to help them. So it's been a, it's been a wild ride. There are stories for days.

Yeah, yeah, you touch a little bit more on just like the neuromechanism and just when we go back to looking at those brain scans, like what part of the brain is activated or not activated in women with this disorder for sure.

So you Know, I. I will say I'm. I'm not a physician. We have one sitting here who might do an even better job. But. But I'll give it in layman's terms. So basically, we're quite animalistic when we want to have sex, but we shut all those tabs in our brain to enjoy sex. So like that animalistic side, we're like deactivating, right? We're. We're quieting the brain. And that part of the brain that's information processing, that's like doing your to do list. It's why you hear women, they'll lie. They're like, I'm lying in bed. I'm doing my to do list. I need to do this, I need to do that. And their brains kind of never allowing them to let those sexual cues take hold. That sex center of the brain, that's regulated by dopamine, which is like excitement, the excitatory factors for sex, and serotonin, which is an inhibitory factor for sex. So Addie is believed to work in that, in that lane, right, As a positive for the positives for sex. Dopamine and this transient negative for the negative of sex or serotonin. Sorry to geek out on it, but in essence, like, it creates this pro sexual effect in that sex center of the brain that needs to quiet in order to respond to cues. When women go on Addie and their responders. And I will say, you know, no drug is for everybody. Like, no drug is a panacea. So, you know, but for women who are great responders to Addie, what they'll tell us is first they are sleepy. So our main side effect is sleepiness. You take it daily at bedtime, and then they, they say, oh, I'm having like, thoughts and fantasies. And what's so awesome about that is like, it's indicating exactly how that we believe that mechanism to work for desire or, or libido in women. It's that drive being woken up and they're having like, you know, sexy dreams. And in the middle of the day, they're sending sex their partner, and they're like, I did it. But, you know, it kind of moves like that. Like, you start thinking about it more again, you start having those like, spontaneous thoughts. And then you're receptive to your partner. And then, you know, you're initiating because you're really interested. So I think that's kind of the typical cycle we hear fed back to us from physicians and patients of how. Of how Addy kind of starts to work in them and Reawakens that sex drive.

It sounds like part of it is kind of disinhibition. I mean, you know, disinhibiting some of those other things that are just, you know, clamping down on that sexual desire. So that's, that's, that's interesting. Do, do you ever have problems where it just goes too far? No.

You actually, it's fairly important. That's a very good question and an important one. In studies you look for like nymphomania in essence, like hypersexuality would be bad. And so we really did look for that in our trials. So we don't see it just like antidepressants. Like if you. Again, you know, we think about antidepressants, I think all of us kind of understand now how they work. They work in the brain on this like balance of neurochemistry. And if you imagine if you put somebody on antidepressant, they kind of come back to a normal. They once knew that they were, they were happy at. They don't become euphoric, right. Addie's very similar, right. They. Something's been lost. They come back to this place that they were once happier with their level of desire and drive, but they don't become hypersexual. So that's the greatest parallel. Your observation on disinhibition is absolutely correct too. It's why like a antidepressant inhibits sex drive, right? It's creating that, that inhibition.

So with something like an antidepressant, if you're taking an SSRI and you have that serotonin, like a higher level of serotonin, and then Addie is going to kind of like decrease, increase that serotonin.

It.

So if somebody's on an ssri, would you not recommend them to be on ADDI because of that or what's.

Actually, that's a great question. We looked at that. So we, we wanted to make sure we studied a huge number of the, you know, a huge percentage of the population period. But especially women are on an SSRI or an snri. So we did a co use study before we were ever even approved by the fda. We wanted to do that study and it is safe to co use with antidepressants. So we, we made sure, you know, we looked at, in phase three trials, you look at all these population arms, like how many are on birth control, how many are on antidepressants. And we specifically did a separate study with SSRIs and SNRIs just understanding that, but safe to Co use, but so.

It'S safe and effective.

You know, it wasn't powered to show mitigating those sexual side effects. The studies looking at sort of safety and co use, but we hear, we, we hear certain anecdotally a lot of that use in practice.

How did you even, like, how was this even discovered? That.

Yeah. Oh, it's a good story. So originally German scientists and, and they. So the brain scan study was out of the Netherlands that I saw. And then German scientists were studying the molecule which is called flibanserin, that's Addie's chemical compound name. And they were looking at it in mood. So because it worked on CNS and when you do any of these kind of drugs that work on mood, anxiety, depression, you actually in clinical trials have to administer a scale called Asex. And what you're doing is measuring how much does it impair drive sex function in essence. And in these studies with Flibanser and all the scores went the other way.

Wow.

So similar. If you think of like the Viagra origin story, you know, it's a blood pressure drug that happened to have this really interesting side effect of, you know, very directed blood flow. So I guess similarly if you think of Addie's origin story, it was being looked at as a mood drug that then had this pro sexual effect.

Other more specific questions about mechanism and stuff. These were questions actually from my friends who they said, I mean, blatantly, is this help you reach climax faster or is it just for desire?

So no, we don't have any evidence to suggest climax faster. But what I will say is when you look at sex, you typically study it in like different domains. So when we imagine the reason I say that is in like clinical trials, you look at the female sexual function Index, FSFI shorthand, and the domains are desire, arousal, orgasm, pain. And we look at desire because desire is far and away women's most common struggle. So by all that prevalence data. But what I will say is when we get the party started in the brain, when you get desire started, you actually see a statistically significant improvement or impact on all those other variables of sex. So you do see like again, once you sort of turn on with libido, you see those other variables. I want to be clear, it's not indicated for that. It's indicated for this, you know, frustrating, low libido. But we do, in studies we administered the scale and we looked at every domain, but powered them specifically for desire. Okay. I think about so many things that we've grown up with Even, you know, some of the conditioning that will just be gone when I look into the future, you know, of a lot of these issues. It's exciting for me.

It is exciting. I mean, just like, like mental health is so, so different now amongst young people. The way they talk about it is just so different from the way my generation and then especially the generation ahead of me talks about it. And so I do, I just, I love that these kids can talk about this and, and, and all of these conversations that they're really comfortable talking about it in front of their mother. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

That's the best. I do love it. I think if we imagine like revolutions in health through, through times like physical health kind of had this revolution. Mental health has a revolution. We still have work, right. To do. I really do believe sexual health is like the next revolution. That's kind of the wave that is, it's already started to come. But you know, these conversations that we're having, like understanding that it is an important piece of your well being. You know, the health organization says like sexual health is a basic human right. Like it's not me saying it. Like we believe that this is so integral to your kind of best life and your best well being. So I think that's the conversation that's really starting to change now, which is exciting. And many times those revolutions have been led by medication. So if you think about it, you know, Prozac coming out started a vocabulary where what surged is therapy. Like it's not only that we have medication in our toolbox that's awesome to, to help patients, but like actually therapy has become so much more commonplace. And, and I think, you know, with, with, with this, our big ambition of course would be that we would give women a whole vocabulary around pleasure that would start, you know, not only having a tool medically, but also, you know, talking about all those other factors that relate to sex.

Yeah. And just like moving in the future, just talking about, you know, obviously like having these conversations. And I, as we just said, see the future being better with being able to talk about these things and women coming to their doctor and saying that they're having these issues. But where do you like see the future of Addie and like, where do you see the future for like your own life going forward?

Well, look, my, my goal is to just, I, I hope my goal is to change an entire narrative in women's health that doesn't lead with psychology. You know, when I spoke at south by, I said hysteria is still the concept of hysteria. Right. That Is goes so far back in time in med. Is actually still alive and well. It's just been rebranded and like we really. It's kind of the psychosomatic. It's the idea that when women come in, you know, we might just be freaking out or a little emotional or you know, attaching what we're feeling. And, and we are as humans conditioned to believe that in a way. You know, I loved that you said complicated. Right. Because when I first started, I'm telling you, there's a very funny image, I'll try to describe it to everybody who's listening where basically it shows an. A light switch and says men. And then it has like the cockpit of a 747 and it says women. And in essence that was my starting point in truth and even is, I think what we're, we're dismantling is this notion that it's for men it's just so easy, right? Like, oh, it's just on off. And for women it's so complicated. And the truth is I think humans are complicated, sex is complicated. But the truth is we all walk into the bedroom with social factors, psychological factors, but by God, women and men also both walk into the bedroom with biological factors. And that's what I'm hoping to change. Like if I look down the line for, you know, impact, our impact will be that we've just made it a better conversation. With OB GYNs in particular, I think about. I'd love for you, this would be so fun if you went and asked your friends to. So my feeling is you walk in and you probably are asked these three questions about sex. Are you sexually active? Do you want birth control? Do you want to be tested for an sti? If we would add one question and say and are you satisfied?

Yeah, yeah.

We would change this conversation completely. We would ask an open ended question that could reveal trauma, violence, pleasure issues, dysfunctions. Like just opening up and giving that permission. I think to discuss would be such a gift in a women's wellness exam. So that's a big ambition of changing that as well and.

Or pain too. Like that's another thing that people don't really talk about either. But I don't know, there's more conversations about that and how that's like more of a thing than people talk about. But that's not. Yeah, that's something that.

Yeah. And you know, then of course just the practicality of that is if they'll be guiding us, seeing 40 patients that day. Sometimes you don't want to know if Somebody is satisfied or not satisfied, because that's just a longer conversation.

That's true. We have seen, for sure. Like, if you imagine, like, our evolution, it's really being driven by women. So it's not being driven by the medical community. It's being driven by women, whether they're, you know, your friend's age or, you know, our age. Like, they're walking in and saying, help. Like, I now know there are options, like, help me with these issues. Because I do think with time constraints and everything else, doctors aren't always proactive in the sexual conversation, never mind, like in medical school, there's not a lot of time spent on it. So, you know, I think women are leading a lot of this charge, just demanding better, which is good.

Yeah, my practice is much smaller and quieter than. Than a traditional practice. So it's, you know, I have to really have lots of grace for my colleagues that are in these very busy practices. But, you know, when you go in there and you just. You have a checklist of, like, these are all the things that I need to accomplish in this visit. And so. And then the patient comes and they're talking about, you know, sexual desire, it just doesn't. It just doesn't seem to rank as high on importance in the doctor's mind. But it should. I mean, these are very, very important conversations. And I mean, to any women that are listening and if they feel like they have been dismissed on that, what I would say to you is make a separate appointment to talk about this. Don't try to do it at your annual exam, because the doctor does have a whole checklist of things that they need to do, and they're probably not paying that much attention. So I would say make a separate appointment. And then you just have to lead with this. Don't lead with a bunch of other things. Lead with this if this is really important to you and, you know, get the doctor's attention. And then again, coming with that knowledge about, I heard about this medication. Do you think I'm a candidate for it? And having that conversation? And I would think most doctors are going to be open to that whole conversation. But it does have to be a little more driven by the women.

I think it does. And I hope everybody who's listening to it would feel comfortable, as you said, to, like, say, say it. Say, like, hey, I'm really struggling with this. I know there are options. Or, you know, it's funny, I. When I was at South By, I think I mentioned this to you. This. This gentleman who's Photographing me for one of my talks came up to me, and he said, hey, how do I bring this up to my wife? And, you know, you could tell he wanted to be sensitive about it. He didn't want to place blame. But, like, he and I said, you know, the best thing you can do is say, I heard the craziest thing today. Did you know there's a pink pill for women? Because I just learned about it, and it opens up, you know, a conversation. I do think you made such an important point, too. It's easy for us to dismiss kind of sex. Like, people would say to me, cindy, no one's going to lose their life. Look, I'm pretty, like, hardcore about this and my passion for it, as you can see. And I have had people say to me, cindy, no, he's going to lose their life from this. And my. My challenge back to them is, go speak to them, because they're losing their life as they know it.

Yeah.

And you look at the stats, you know, one in seven marriages is sexless today. Three of four of those marriages end in divorce. And I. I had a woman come up to me not that long ago after a talk, and. And she came up, and she's like, hold on one second. And she opens up her purse and is, like, fishing through it and takes out her checkbook. And I'm like, hey. And she's like, okay, hold on. I need to get the spelling of your last name, because I'm going to write you a check for what I was spending on the divorce attorney. Giggle. I'm laughing. I'm like, okay. She's. I like this woman already. And she said, no, I'm serious. She goes, I heard you on a podcast, and I didn't know I had treatment options. And I did consider, what if it's just this, right? When things start to break down in the bedroom, they fall apart at the breakfast table, too. So I think a lot of resentments creep in. Is it. Is it this relationship stress? What is it? But she said, you know, this is kind of what started it. When I heard it, I went to my doctor. I was appropriate for this. I went on Addie. She's like, I'm serious. I'm writing. I'm writing you a check right now. I said, hey, let's do this instead. I'm like, keep the money. Go on a great vacation, and have the best sex of your life. I'll take it. But, you know, that's truly, like, you know, in that moment, we both had, like, a laugh about it in light, but she really was kind of in her darkest moment with this. And, and if I have learned anything over the, you know, 12 years I've been at this, it's just there have been a lot of tears and a lot of people who are really, really struggling with this issue. So I think it's. Even if it doesn't level up on the checklist, just make sure that you're heard, you know, and go to those places where the physician is passionate about this and, and bring it up specifically to ask about. I think schedule appointment, it's worth that. Schedule an appointment for yourself just to talk about this.

Yeah, I'm totally with you. And with that, I think in my generation specifically to like bringing that also into the mental health conversation because I think just older generations sort of dismiss that as, yeah, it's not life or death. Like, you're just sad when. No, our generation sees that, like, it literally is, you are depressed. And I think bringing that, you know, sexual health into that conversation as well is just like so important. So I really appreciate what you're doing. I don't want to take up too much of your time, but I do just want to ask, you are so like, inspirational just as a young woman going into a field that is predominantly male dominated. Just, do you have any advice for young entrepreneurs or young women just about to start a career and how you've been able to be so successful and well spoken?

Yeah, look, I think make bold choices. That's my really simple. I wouldn't be here without bold choices. And I think, you know, if you are resolute in your conviction, you can bring anybody ultimately to your side. I've been in a completely male dominated, you know, industry and an outlier in almost every room. And I think at the moment in time in which I accepted that probably I was going to be underestimated. Right. I just accepted that as opposed to railing against that. I thought that's probably going to happen. I'm going to walk in this room and somebody's be like, why is she in here? I use that as an invitation to surprise people. It became a great weapon. And so that's what I would say is, you know, I've, I've been in those moments where people have said, like, you know, who are you? What are you doing here? And I'm like, watch this. So when you know your stuff, we talk so much too. I think as women we talk about confidence and, you know, I think we assign confidence to like this swagger and this, like, sure, that I'm right and I got it. And I actually will tell you in every interview, in every moment, like, my palms are sweating. You know, I'm nervous. But. But what I value is competence. And here's what I. I know my stuff, right? You're. You can put me through the paces. Like, this is the thing I'm deeply passionate about. I know it. And I think when you carry that and know that, that's really the only thing you have to have is that competence, and that's the only standard you hold to. All the rest will fall into place.

Mm.

I'm excited about. I'm excited to watch. I'm excited to watch what's next for you.

Oh, thank you.

I am.

Well, I appreciate you so much and I appreciate you being here. This has just been awesome and amazing.

It's so amazing for you to come on this podcast with us. It's really. You're just. You are. You're such an inspiration, and I. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us and to our listeners and thank you.

You do the best work of all, which is like taking care of people right, Day in and day out. That's the best. That's the best, most noble calling of all.

It's a privilege. I would say. It is a privilege. Thanks.

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

I think that's about all we have.

Yeah.

So, yeah, one.

One year into med school, we got to do a follow up.

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

And I'll try to. I'll give updates of if I bring this up to my professors and see if. Try to push this into the medical.

Education, like raising your hand in basic science classes.

Be like, yeah, exactly. Exactly.

That's so cool. I love it. Thank you.

And if you want more Sydney, you can find her on Instagram at Sydney Pink CEO. If you want to find more information about Addy and see if it's the right fit for you, you can find that@addy.com, that's a--y-I.com and you know where to find us at generationsmd on tick tock, generations md on Instagram. And we will talk to you next week by.

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