A More Sex-Friendly Antidepressant?

An antidepressant said to have fewer sexual side effects is slated to hit drugstore shelves sometime this year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved vilazodone HCL tablets -- brand name Viibryd -- in January.

Studies showed Viibryd had fewer reported incidents of sexual side effects.

Decreased libido is a major issue for people who take drugs for anxiety and depression.

"Decreased libido and decreased sexual function in the studies is up to 40 percent, but I think we see more of that, honestly," said Dr. Darren Tate of Texas Health Harris Methodist. "I think that's underreported."

"So when you really sit down with your patients, and you sort through how they're feeling on these medications, most of them will have clinical improvements, but often they'll have side effects right alongside those," he said.

Tate, a obstetrician-gynecologist, sees patients every day who struggle with depression.

"A lot of our patients come to their OB-GYN as their sole provider, particularly when they're having menopausal issues or depression issues," Tate said.

He often prescribes antidepressants, which frequently leads to another complaint -- decreased libido. He said it's one of the reasons patients often choose to stop taking the medications.

Viibryd was originally slated to hit the market in the second quarter of 2011 but may not be introduced until later in the year.

Tate said some of his patients have already asked about it.

"Like a lot of doctors, I'm a little cautious on giving new medications," he said. "But what I'm reading is encouraging, because it is in the SSRI category, which we know these are safe drugs, so I think we will be using this very soon with our patients. "