By pill or by patch, testosterone gets in on the act

Abstract

Various formulations of testosterone have yielded promising results in 3 recent clinical trials involving both women and men. In the first trial, transdermal testosterone improved sexual function and psychological well-being in women with sexual dysfunction after surgically-induced menopause. In the second trial, sustained-release implants of the synthetic testosterone analogue 7-alpha-methyl-19-nortestosterone (MENT) proved comparable to injectable testosterone for treatment of sexual dysfunction in men with hypogonadism. And finally, testosterone administered alone or in combination with levonorgestrel decreased truncal and total body fat in healthy men, contradicting the idea that the combination (under evaluation as a male contraceptive) induces bodyweight gain due to increased body fat. The findings were reported at the 81st Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society [ San Diego, US; June 1999 ].