SEX, DRUGS & THE PURSUIT OF HEALTH

Meet the "unapologetically pink" entrepreneur who took the pharmaceutical world by storm with a simple concept: A satisfying sex life is essential to living a long and happy one.

- LINDSAY GELLER

CINDY ECKERT FIRST LEARNED ABOUT hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD)—the most common type of sexual dysfunction in women—while attending a conference as a co-founder of Slate Pharmaceuticals, a male-hormone company. (At the time, Slate’s main drug was a testosterone treatment.)

During a presentation, scientists showed brain scan images comparing how women with normal desire and women with HSDD reacted to erotic materials. The condition is described by the American Sexual Health Association as “the absence of sexual fantasies and thoughts, and/or desire for or receptivity to, sexual activity that causes the person distress or difficulties.” Cindy compares HSDD to a light switch in the brain that can essentially shut off libido.

The proof was in the pictures: Women with the condition had very little to no activation in the pleasure centers of the brain compared to women with normal desire. “Here it was in black-and-white, but everyone sat there looking at their phones,” Cindy says. She glanced around at the group and wondered, Well, who’s doing something about this? As the old adage goes, if you want something done right—or, in the case of women’s sexual health, at all—you gotta do it yourself.