‘Women’s Viagra’ wins startup competition in Russia

Thanks to its “Women’s Viagra” drug, the Russian Ivix company has won first prize at the annual StartUp Village Conference, which took place from June 6 to 7 at the Skolkovo technopark. Ivix was subsequently awarded five million rubles (almost $90,000).

The Startup Village has been held in Skolkovo since 2012. It’s the largest startup conference in Russia and the CIS countries for technological entrepreneurs, welcoming around 20,000 participants from more than 80 countries.

“‘Women’s Viagra’ is just a nickname for our medicine, because Viagra cures erectile dysfunction, while women don’t have erectile dysfunction,” comments Dmitri Golikov, head of Ivix. He says the drug’s success is down to the discovery of a new molecule and its previously unknown influence on the brain.