PORTLAND, Ore. – A drug developed to treat sexual dysfunction in women is showing promise in treating genetic and age-related eye diseases, and doctors in Portland are leading the way.
Dr. Mark Pennesi and his colleagues at Oregon Health & Science University’s Casey Eye Institute were studying ways to slow down or halt the loss of vision that comes with age or inherited genes when Pennesi heard a story on the radio about the Federal Drug Administration’s approved drug flibanserin, the female Viagra.
“The reason it caught my attention was the name flibanserin was very similar to this drug ketanserin that we were working on in the lab,” Pennesi said.