A female testosterone patch showed promise at boosting older women's enjoyment of sex, but concerns about the cancer risk of hormone therapies mean U.S. boomer women won't be getting an equivalent of Viagra anytime soon.
The New England Journal of Medicine recently published a company-run study of Procter & Gamble's Intrinsa patch, which delivers a steady stream of testosterone, a hormone associated with sex drive in men and women.
Women in the study, who averaged 54 years old, were asked to keep a weekly diary of sexual episodes and note which ones they considered "satisfying." About 264 women wore Intrinsa patches, to be placed near the belly button and changed twice a week, and 277 wore fake patches.
All the women started out with a low sexual desire, and reported an average of 2.5 "satisfying sexual episodes" over the previous four weeks. After six months, women wearing Intrinsa reported 4.6 satisfying episodes in the previous four weeks, compared with 3.2 in a group wearing a fake patch.
But the study's results are unlikely to allay concerns about the safety of long-term treatment with hormones such as testosterone. Three of 264 women with the patch developed breast cancer, compared with none on the placebo patch. In a third group---using a low-dose version of the patch---one woman developed breast cancer.
P&G declined to say specifically whether it planned to seek approval again from the FDA. "Based on these data and other studies we've conducted, we are continuing our talks with the FDA to explore new opportunities and pathways forward," said Tom Millikin, a P&G spokesman.
Mr. Millikin said the number of breast cancer cases in this recent report was too small to constitute "evidence that Intrinsa increases the risk of breast cancer." Two of the four women may have already had breast cancer before they started on the patch, the study said.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, November 6, 2008
Visit the Blogging Boomer Carnival #93 and discover what's new in the world of the Baby Boomer Generation at Don't Gel Too Soon!
Subscribe to this blog
