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Viagra, the drug that boosts libido in men, has been on the market since 1998 - 15 years, to be precise. However, despite the fact that researchers have been looking into a similar cure for women for about the same period of the time, nothing has ended up on shelves yet. The answer for the long delay can be traced to a variety of factors that can generally be summed up in two words: science and society.

According to The New York Times magazine, researchers have been working on Lybrido for quite some time now. However, researchers are hesitant to label the drug as a "female Viagra". They charge that the approach to the two drugs must be different. For men, an increased flow of blood to the penis does most of the work of enhancing libido. For women, in order to receive the same effect, the researchers say that the drug could not just enhance blood flow to the vagina, but to the brain as well.

However, researchers contend that part of the problem with female libido may not be related to sex at all, but to monogamy. Indeed, studies have shown that women's libido drops off more severely during long-term relationship than that of men, though that effect was not as drastic in couples who were not cohabitating. All of the women involved in the study have been in long-term relationships, because new relationships are linked to an increase in lust, whether chemically-fueled or otherwise. "The impact of relationship duration is something that comes up constantly," psychologist Lori Brotto said to the Times. "Sometimes I wonder whether it...isn't so much about libido as it is about boredom."

If that is the case, a pill like Lybrido could serve as a cure for monogamy, New York suggests, providing relief from the temptation of cheating. However, companies believe that the Food and Drug Administration would also turn down a pill that works too well, out of fear of creating chemically-charged sexually aggressive women - a similar fear that was brought up during the creation of a now fairly accepted pill for women, the birth control pill.