Women going through the menopause could soon be treated with testosterone patches – with researchers saying the potential to improve their lives and sex drives is “huge”. 

Women who find menopause impacts their libido currently cannot be prescribed testosterone on the NHS, leading some to resort to treatments only approved for use on men.

The patches, which are being developed in the UK in a world-first, could change that.

Testosterone is an essential hormone for women and its production drops heavily after menopause.

Oestrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches – which stick to the skin to deliver medications – are available, but no testosterone patch.

Medherant, a company founded by the University of Warwick’s Professor David Haddleton, is aiming to start clinical trials in the autumn.

Prof Haddleton said the patches were a “very exciting development” and could “remove needless misery from women’s daily lives”.

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“The work we’re doing at Medherant and at Warwick isn’t just theoretical, but instead aimed at a problem women are facing which can drastically affect their everyday lives and jobs.

“We hope this will transform life for women suffering from post-menopause issues nationally and indeed globally.”

Since 2015, guidelines have recommended doctors consider testosterone supplementation for menopausal women with low sexual desire if HRT alone is not effective.

The British Menopause Society said it follows guidelines that state testosterone should be used to treat low libido “after other options have been exhausted”.

Currently the only available options are gels or creams that have been licensed for use in men, but can be used to treat women outside their product licence.

Getting the dose right and reviewing treatment is important, the society said, as using higher doses in women could lead to “potentially irreversible side effects including clitoromegaly [abnormal enlargement of the clitoris], deepening of the voice and male pattern baldness”.

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