First testosterone patch to combat the menopause is developed
First testosterone patch to combat menopause is being developed and inventors say it could boost women’s libido
The world’s first testosterone patch for menopausal women is being developed by British researchers.
Medherant aims to start clinical trials in the fall. If approved by the regulatory authorities, the treatment would be the only testosterone replacement patch available worldwide and be the first to be launched in the UK.
Medherant’s founder, Professor David Haddleton of the University of Warwick, said the potential to improve women’s lives by helping them with their loss of sex drive was ‘huge’.
Women seeking treatment for the effects of menopause on libido cannot currently be prescribed testosterone on the NHS.
Some resort to irregular doses of gel approved only for use on men, experts say.
Medherant aims to start clinical trials in the fall. If approved by the regulatory authorities, the treatment would be the only testosterone replacement patch available worldwide and first to be launched in the UK (file image)
Testosterone is an essential hormone for women and its production drops sharply after menopause.
While estrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches — which stick to the skin to release drugs — are available, there is no testosterone release patch for women with adverse menopausal symptoms.
Professor Hadleton said: ‘This is a very exciting development for us – the potential of this technology to improve women’s lives is huge.
“The work we do at Medherant and Warwick is not just theoretical, but focuses on an issue women face that can drastically affect their daily lives and work.
“This could produce a product that is much needed and simply not available.
“Now that the technology has already been proven to work, we can use our new patch to remove unnecessary misery from women’s daily lives.
“We hope this will change the lives of women suffering from postmenopausal problems, both nationally and globally.”
As of 2015, guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommend that testosterone supplementation should be considered for menopausal women with low sexual desire if HRT is ineffective.
The new patch aims to address this gap in menopausal products, by providing a treatment specific to women that can be made widely available.
Last summer, the Daily Mail’s HRT campaign won a major victory after pharmacists were allowed to prescribe alternatives to hormone replacement therapies that were out of stock.