Cindy Eckert Readies Female Libido-Enhancing Pill for a 'Real Launch'
*By Max Godnick*
Sex, drugs, and $1 billion.
That was the title of Cindy Eckert's presentation at the Cornell eShip Summit in New York City on Friday. But it would also be a fitting title for her life story.
Eckert is best known as the the creator of [Addyi](http://time.com/5448807/female-desire-pill/), the female libido-enhancing pill commonly referred to by the media as "female Viagra."
Eckert, who is also the founder and CEO of The Pink Ceiling, an incubator for female-led start-ups, [sold Sprout Pharmaceuticals](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/business/dealbook/valeant-pharmaceuticals-to-buy-sprout-maker-of-addyi-female-viagra-drug.html) ー and Addyi along with it ー to Valeant Pharmaceuticals, now Bausch Health, for $1 billion in 2015. Complaints about the company's marketing and pricing of the drug led the original team to sue, and ultimately reach a settlement in which Sprout returned to its original shareholders.
Now that she's back as CEO, the first order of business is to correct the misconception that Addyi is the female Viagra.
"With Viagra, we're talking about a mechanical blood flow issue, with Addyi we're talking about desire," Eckert told Cheddar's Tim Stenovec of the difference.
When Addyi launched in 2015, there were 26 FDA-approved male sexual-enhancement drugs on the market, compared to just one for women. Eckert said the disparity speaks to the "societal narrative" of sex and how it's spoken about in everyday life.
"If something goes wrong for men in the bedroom, we immediately accept that it's biological," she said. "If something goes wrong for women in the bedroom, we think it's psychological."
With Eckert back at the helm, Addyi is now more accessible than ever. She said she did a "radical thing" for a drug company in immediately cutting the price in half. Now thirty pills retail for around $400. Insured customers pay no more than $25 a month, while those without coverage will never pay more than $99 a month.
Instead of a relaunch, Eckert refers to Sprout's new era as a "real launch."
"What was I going to do?" she asked. "Sit on the sidelines and just be frustrated that my team had fought so hard to overcome all of the societal bias, and finally having a drug for women breakthrough, and then the women who needed it didn't have access to it? Not my style."
The 116th Congress might be slightly more her speed.
This week's midterm elections saw a [record number of women](https://cheddar.com/videos/women-win-big-in-pink-tsunami-midterms) elected to the chamber. Eckert, who has devoted her career to improving access to capital for female-led start-ups, said she thinks the increased representation on Capitol Hill will only pay dividends for women at the negotiating table.
"It's indisputable that when you have diversity of thought at the table you're going to get to better outcomes," she said.
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/cindy-eckert-returns-as-ceo-of-company-she-sold-for-1-billion).
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