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American Morning

House Call: Testosterone Patch

Aired September 24, 2003 - 07:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a sort of Viagra in a patch, for women that is. If you never feel like it and want to, we've got news. There is now a testosterone patch that could increase sexual desire in women.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with the details.

And testosterone is something you don't usually associate with women.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You don't. But women do produce testosterone, much like men do. In fact, their ovaries, about half of the production coming from their ovaries.

But what you're talking about here, they make you fly to New York and talk about hypoactive sexual desires, it turns out, which is the syndrome that this testosterone patch is actually targeting.

Testosterone, a lot of it does come from the ovaries. And you can see a picture of it there. It's for the treatment of hypoactive -- HSDD, hypoactive sexual desire disorder. I had never actually heard of that. That is something that's quite common. It's specifically in women who have had surgical menopause, women who have actually had their ovaries removed, no longer producing as much testosterone, or estrogen for that matter either.

Take a look at some interesting numbers here. They looked at 447 women, women who had all had their ovaries removed and suffered from this hypoactive sexual disorder. Specifically they had low satisfaction with their sex lives.

About 300 micrograms a day of testosterone in this particular patch, and they had significant improvements overall in their sexual activity, as well as their sexual desire -- 66 percent improvement in their sexual desire, 30 percent in terms of sexual activity.

Again, this sort of syndrome, most women do not think of testosterone as being a female hormone. Most men don't think of it that way either. But, in fact, the ovaries do produce a lot of testosterone as well. And that goes away during menopause. It also goes away if your ovaries are removed.

If you can replace that to a certain extent, they're finding out, at least in initial trials, that that may help with this particular syndrome.

COSTELLO: Yes, but even women with a normal amount of testosterone in their bodies who haven't had their ovaries removed have problems with sex. Hey, I watch "Oprah." So, will this patch work for them, too?

GUPTA: Well, this is specifically targeting women who have actually had their ovaries removed. You're right. There is the syndrome of HSDD, this hypoactive sexual desire disorder, is made up of several different components. But basically, women who have had their ovaries removed, about 15 to 41 percent of them have this disorder where they actually have a decreased sexual desire. One- third of them specifically had lower sexual desire.

But the key component of this as well, in terms of the women who were treated, was that half of them also were personally affected in terms of having some distress about it. They actually worried about it. They said, you know, this bothers me, I guess...

COSTELLO: Yes.

GUPTA: ... in addition to the fact that they have a problem.

COSTELLO: So, when will this be available, quickly?

GUPTA: It may be a couple of years probably out there.

COSTELLO: Oh. A couple of years!

GUPTA: They've got to make sure it's safe and effective, all that sort of stuff.

COSTELLO: That's true. I guess those things are important.

GUPTA: That's right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Sanjay. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired September 24, 2003 - 07:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It's a sort of Viagra in a patch, for women that is. If you never feel like it and want to, we've got news. There is now a testosterone patch that could increase sexual desire in women.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now with the details.

And testosterone is something you don't usually associate with women.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You don't. But women do produce testosterone, much like men do. In fact, their ovaries, about half of the production coming from their ovaries.

But what you're talking about here, they make you fly to New York and talk about hypoactive sexual desires, it turns out, which is the syndrome that this testosterone patch is actually targeting.

Testosterone, a lot of it does come from the ovaries. And you can see a picture of it there. It's for the treatment of hypoactive -- HSDD, hypoactive sexual desire disorder. I had never actually heard of that. That is something that's quite common. It's specifically in women who have had surgical menopause, women who have actually had their ovaries removed, no longer producing as much testosterone, or estrogen for that matter either.

Take a look at some interesting numbers here. They looked at 447 women, women who had all had their ovaries removed and suffered from this hypoactive sexual disorder. Specifically they had low satisfaction with their sex lives.

About 300 micrograms a day of testosterone in this particular patch, and they had significant improvements overall in their sexual activity, as well as their sexual desire -- 66 percent improvement in their sexual desire, 30 percent in terms of sexual activity.

Again, this sort of syndrome, most women do not think of testosterone as being a female hormone. Most men don't think of it that way either. But, in fact, the ovaries do produce a lot of testosterone as well. And that goes away during menopause. It also goes away if your ovaries are removed.

If you can replace that to a certain extent, they're finding out, at least in initial trials, that that may help with this particular syndrome.

COSTELLO: Yes, but even women with a normal amount of testosterone in their bodies who haven't had their ovaries removed have problems with sex. Hey, I watch "Oprah." So, will this patch work for them, too?

GUPTA: Well, this is specifically targeting women who have actually had their ovaries removed. You're right. There is the syndrome of HSDD, this hypoactive sexual desire disorder, is made up of several different components. But basically, women who have had their ovaries removed, about 15 to 41 percent of them have this disorder where they actually have a decreased sexual desire. One- third of them specifically had lower sexual desire.

But the key component of this as well, in terms of the women who were treated, was that half of them also were personally affected in terms of having some distress about it. They actually worried about it. They said, you know, this bothers me, I guess...

COSTELLO: Yes.

GUPTA: ... in addition to the fact that they have a problem.

COSTELLO: So, when will this be available, quickly?

GUPTA: It may be a couple of years probably out there.

COSTELLO: Oh. A couple of years!

GUPTA: They've got to make sure it's safe and effective, all that sort of stuff.

COSTELLO: That's true. I guess those things are important.

GUPTA: That's right.

COSTELLO: Thank you, Sanjay. We appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.