Cindy Eckert Recognised by TIME Among Top Health Leaders 2026

TIME has named Cindy Eckert, Founder and CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals, makers of Addyi^®, to the 2026 TIME100 Health list recognizing the world's most influential leaders shaping the future of health.

The honor follows a landmark period for both Eckert and Addyi. In December 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded Addyi's decade-long approval originally indicated for premenopausal women to include all women under 65 with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), regardless of pre, peri, or post-menopausal status. This decision closed a long-standing gap in women's sexual health care and reaffirmed Addyi's well-established safety and efficacy profile supported by more than a decade of clinical and real-world data.

Over the past 15 years, Eckert has helped move women's sexual health from the margins of medicine into the mainstream after successfully founding and exiting a men's sexual health company. She has unwaveringly advanced the view that women deserve the same care grounded in science and evidence long afforded to men. 

Eckert's culture-shifting advocacy recently became the subject of the independent award-winning documentary The Pink Pill. The filmmakers examine how Eckert's fight to advance standards of care for women -- catalyzed by a little pink pill -- ignited a wider reckoning of double standards in medicine helping fuel advancements in menopause care, the removal of outdated FDA restrictions, and new approvals for women. Paramount+ will begin streaming the film March 6 in advance of International Women's Day.

The 2026 TIME100 Health list celebrates the leaders whose innovations, advocacy, and breakthroughs are reshaping global health. At a moment of rapid scientific and regulatory change, these pioneers are redefining what progress looks like for populations around the world.

"I am deeply honored to be named to the TIME100 Health list," said Cindy Eckert, Founder and CEO of Sprout Pharmaceuticals. "Every disruptor dreams of the moment that culture reflects that what they've done has made a difference. Impact is the ultimate award."