Male drug stomach patch gives older women better sex
A stomach patch loaded with the male hormone testosterone can enhance the sex drives of older women and lead to an extra two satisfying encounters a month.
A Melbourne-led study involved 814 post-menopausal women worldwide who were given either the male hormone or a dummy patch which was attached to the stomach and changed twice a week.
The women with the hormone patch enjoyed half their sexual experiences before the study and then had an extra two satisfying encounters a month during the next six months compared to 0.7 in the placebo group.
Professor Susan Davis, of Monash University, said: “That’s an exciting development given that no other agent has been found to help women. We already knew it could work among women taking oestrogen as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but HRT isn’t for everyone so it’s important to know it works alone too.”
Sydney health specialist Professor Basil Donovan, of Sydney University, described the results as promising. “I don’t think they’ll get the same market as Viagra ( the male anti-impotence drug) but it may help many long-term relationships. For a lot of women the flower of their sexual career is often in their post-menopausal years when they’re no longer busy with work and have met the man they want to be with, and this may be just what they need.”
The study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine but the patch, developed by US drug company Procter and Gamble, is not yet available in Australia.
