Daré Bioscience has started a consumer awareness campaign to lay the foundations for the launch of its female sexual arousal drug, rolling out video and interactive content on a women’s health app.
The company is planning to launch a topical cream formulation of sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, for treating female sexual arousal disorder in the fourth quarter of this year. To support the launch of the product, which will be sold as DARE to PLAY, Daré has partnered with women’s health app Rosy Wellness, which provides education, coaching and cognitive behavioral therapy-based exercise to more than 250,000 women.
In partnership with Daré, Rosy is hosting a “Quickie”—the company’s term for short-form video—with Sameena Rahman, M.D. The board-certified Ob/Gyn has more than 24,000 followers on Instagram. Rahman’s video will discuss the biology of arousal and what makes DARE to PLAY unique.
Daré is also working with Rahman on an “Arousal Collection.” Rosy’s Collections are masterclass-style courses made up of short, interactive modules. Daré said its course will go deeper into “the topic of physical arousal and how it fits into the broader cycle of sexual response, what influences it and how DARE to PLAY fits into a personalized approach to managing arousal challenges.”
The company framed both sets of content as a way to combat misinformation and make expert-led sexual health education more accessible. Daré is launching the campaign this week, marking the first steps in a broader collaboration with Rosy that will include healthcare provider awareness initiatives and support for DARE to PLAY customers.
Daré plans to bring the product to market via 503B compounding. The company was originally focused on winning traditional approval for the product, but delays at the FDA prompted management to adopt a dual-track approach. While continuing to pursue FDA approval, Daré is preparing to make the treatment available in partnership with a 503B facility.
Sabrina Martucci Johnson, CEO of Daré, discussed the implications of the compounding strategy on the company’s earnings call in May. Manufacturing preparations were determining the launch date, she said, leaving the company with a window in which it could begin running education campaigns before the rollout begins.
“[It] gives us some nice time between now and then to do a lot of work around provider education and medical education, with the support of the medical institutions that are very focused on sexual health of women and other platforms that are focused on education of providers that are focused in that field,” Johnson said.