Womens low libido

A Boost for Women's Low Libido?

Thanks to Viagra, Cialis and Levitra, men with erectile dysfunction can get on board the Food and Drug Administration-approved love train. But women who experience a different sexual problem - sagging libido - have been left at the station.

That may be changing.

BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. is testing the safety and effectiveness of LibiGel, a testosterone gel for women designed to combat declines in sexual arousal associated with menopause. There are currently no drugs available in the U.S. specifically approved for pumping up lackluster libido in women.

The Lincolnshire, Ill., -based company is conducting two trials, comprising 1, 000 women, to test the effectiveness of the gel, which is applied to the upper arm. The company will also test the gel's safety in a trial of as many as 3, 100 women using LibiGel or a placebo.

If the trials go well, the drug could be available by prescription by 2011, says BioSante chief executive Stephen Simes.

A testosterone gel for menopausal women makes sense medically, says Dr. Richard Paulson, professor of reproductive medicine and chief of reproductive endocrinology at USC's Keck School of Medicine.

Both men and women produce the female hormone estradiol and the male hormone testosterone, but in different quantities. When women go through menopause, they lose almost all of their estradiol production and most of their testosterone production. Estrogen (either taken orally or topically applied) helps keep the vaginal tissue strong and elastic, but it doesn't enhance libido.

A testosterone gel, Paulsen says, could restore libido and reestablish the pre-menopausal balance between testosterone and estradiol. It could be especially beneficial to women who have had their ovaries surgically removed and lose even the small amounts of testosterone that ovaries produce after menopause. This population "is particularly susceptible to symptoms attributable to the loss of hormone production, such as hot flashes and loss of libido, " he says.

Currently, the only option postmenopausal women have for boosting testosterone is off-label use of products developed for men, says Sheryl Kingsberg, chief of Behavioral Medicine at University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio. "We know that it works - not for everybody - but it works, " she says. "And we know that about 20% of all prescriptions for testosterone are for women."

But safety, particularly the possibility that testosterone could increase the risk of breast cancer, is still a concern. "We haven't seen serious adverse effects" from use, says Kingsberg, a psychologist and sex researcher, "but we need more data."

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