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Testosterone+Female Libido
New Testosterone-Based Gel Livens Up Female Libido
By
MedHeadlines • Jul 25th,
2008
A woman’s waning desire for sexual interaction is often
attributed to the aging process but
not every woman loses interest in the opposite
sex once past menopause. Many
postmenopausal women remain sexually active
and happy about it while others experience
some very real physical
issues that make sex less pleasant than it once. Others just don’t
seem to miss it.
There’s hope for romance in the future, however, even when a
medical condition called
hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD) has been
diagnosed. A research team based at
the University of North Carolina (UNC), Chapel
Hill, have just released the findings of a
Phase II study involving a
testosterone-based gel that was reported to improve sexual
satisfaction by more than 200% in
women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. The gel,
to be marketed
as LibiGel once final testing is completed and the drug is approved for sale,
contains testosterone, the sexual hormone most often associated with men.
Women, too, require testosterone for sexual arousal but the
female body’s ability to
produce the male hormone diminishes after menopause. To
use the libido- restoring new
gel, women simply apply it to the upper arm,
where it is absorbed through the skin in a
controlled dose all day long.
The research team evaluated the intimate lives of more than
2,200 30- to 70-year- old
women to measure the potential benefits of the gel.
About 26.7% of premenopausal
women participating in the study reported low
sex drives but more than half, 52%, of
postmenopausal women did so.
Within the study group, women who were surgically menopausal
seemed to have the
greatest difficulties, with 12.5% of them diagnosed with HSDD. Women who experienced
natural menopause had HSDD about 1.2% more often
then premenopausal women. The
medical condition, HSDD, is a more
extreme lack of desire that is characterized by enough
anxiety to seriously
test relationships.
While using LibiGel, the surgically menopausal women reported
238% more satisfying
sexual encounters than before using the gel. The
very high rate of success of the
testosterone-laced gel makes it highly desirable in
the treatment of sexual dysfunction in
postmenopausal women. The gel is still
undergoing testing at this time, however, with
current study participants who are all
experiencing menopause and have HSDD, too.
The July 14, 2008, issue of the Archives of Internal
Medicine
carries the details of the
UNC study. The study was a joint effort between UNC
researchers and BioSante
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the gel’s manufacturer.
BioSante is headquartered in Lincolnshire,
Illinois.
Source: BioSante Pharmaceuticals
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