A David and Goliath battle to win FDA approval for a drug that boosts a woman’s sexual desire, much as Viagara helps men overcome erectile dysfunction, is captured in the trailer for Aisling Chin-Yee’s documentary The Pink Pill: Sex, Drugs & Who Has Control, which dropped on Thursday.
“How do you take on the government for women’s sexual pleasure? You lean right into it and say, ‘This is the conversation we’re going to have,’” says Cindy Eckert, whose Sprout Pharmaceuticals fought a campaign to bring to market Addyi, dubbed “female Viagra” by the media, at one point in the teaser.
For her efforts, Eckert faced regulatory roadblocks, restrictions and public attacks
The Pink Pill, produced by Julie Bristow of Catalyst and Abby Greensfelder of Everywoman Studios, will have a world premiere at DOC NYC on Nov. 15. Before that, Sphere Abacus, handling global sales, will shop the film to U.S. and other international buyers at MIPCOM next week.
And Paramount+ will release the documentary in Canada in early 2026. Eckert’s ultimate victory in securing regulatory approval for Addyi underpins the documentary’s revelations about gender bias at the FDA as a drug that claimed to improve female pleasure was dismissed as trivial or even dangerous.
“I am thankful for the trust that I was given by the people I spoke to in the making of this film, and proud to spotlight those who challenge the inequity and systemic bias against women’s and marginalized bodies’ needs, especially in something as fundamental as sexual health,” Chin-Yee said in a statement as she hopes her film sparks a wider conversation about a more equitable healthcare system.
The film is executive produced by Bristow, Greensfelder, Chin-Yee, Vibika Bianchi and Knix founder and president Joanna Griffiths, a backer of Docs for Change, a collaboration between Catalyst, the Toronto-based studio, and Knix Fund, the charity arm of the Knix brand.
