Vulvodynia.
Vulvodynia is chronic vulvar pain lasting at least three months with no identifiable cause. The most common form is provoked vestibulodynia, where pain is triggered by touch at the vaginal opening. It is a leading cause of sexual dysfunction and gynecologic care avoidance.
PREVALENCE
8 to 16% lifetime prevalence
DIAGNOSTIC DELAY
3 to 5 years to correct diagnosis
APPROVED THERAPY
No FDA-approved treatment
| Total signals indexed | 14 |
| Strong-tier | 0 |
| Moderate-tier | 5 |
| Emerging-tier | 3 |
| Exploratory-tier | 6 |
FIGURE A · TIER DISTRIBUTION
Signals per confidence tier
The largest single group is the Exploratory tier (6); 0 of the 14 indexed signals reach Strong, the tier reserved for the most robust, replicated evidence.
FIGURE B · ARM COMPOSITION
Where each signal originates
Direct contributes the most signals (12); Pathway the fewest (0). Each evidence arm applies its own inclusion threshold.
BIOLOGY
Biological context
A pain sensitization disorder, not an infection or inflammatory condition. The vestibular tissue in affected women has 10 times the normal density of pain nerve fibers, with upregulated pain receptors. Brain imaging confirms that central pain processing is also altered.
RESEARCH & FUNDING
Research landscape
Classified as psychosomatic for decades. NIH funding is roughly 2.5 million dollars annually despite lifetime prevalence comparable to asthma. No pharmaceutical industry investment because no approved drug exists to build on.
REPURPOSING SIGNALS
14 signals indexed.
The breakdown above shows how those 14 signals grade out by confidence tier and where each one originates. The candidates themselves, the specific approved drugs with their verbatim-verified evidence across the direct, pathway, and community arms for vulvodynia, sit behind access while Whel is in research preview.
Explore the candidates.
Each candidate carries its full evidence trail: scored across five dimensions, graded from strong to exploratory, with every source and date attached so it can be checked. Every candidate is open to read in full.
ALSO TRACKED
Tracked, but not graded as single-agent candidates.
These are recorded for vulvodynia but kept out of the graded repurposing index: multi-agent combination regimens (legitimate clinical regimens, not single-agent repurposing candidates) and supplements or herbals (reported as complementary context). Neither is scored on the five-dimension rubric.