Small Effects, Questionable Outcomes: Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder

ABSTRACT

Efficacy outcomes are only informative to the extent that they are validated. We examined the measurement properties of efficacy measures from the phase III (“RECONNECT”) bremelanotide trials for hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) in women. Continuous efficacy outcomes, including a) the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) and its Desire domain (FSFI-D) and b) the Female Sexual Distress Scale-Desire/Arousal/Orgasm (FSDS-DAO) and its item assessing distress due to low desire (FSDS-DAO #13) have questionable, at best, validity evidence for women with HSDD. We found no validity evidence for previously published categorical treatment response outcomes from the RECONNECT trials. All efficacy results should be reported, but results on 8 of the 11 clinicaltrials.gov-specified efficacy outcomes were heretofore unpublished (including FSDS-DAO total score, FSFI total score, FSFI arousal domain, and items from the Female Sexual Encounter Profile-Revised). We analyzed these outcomes, upon which effect sizes ranged from nil to small. Several other continuous and categorical outcomes generated modest apparent benefits, though nearly all of these outcomes were likely derived post-hoc. Across RECONNECT trial data from two prior publications and the current study, bremelanotide's benefits are statistically modest and limited to outcomes for which scant evidence of validity among women with HSDD exists.

Disclosure Statement

Glen I. Spielmans has holdings in Vanguard Healthcare, a mutual fund that invests heavily in pharmaceutical firms. Elaine M. Ellefson has no conflicting interests to declare.

Data Availability Statement

Clinicaltrials.gov-specified outcomes are located at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02338960 and https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02333071

Supplementary Material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2023.2175192