World’s first testosterone patch for menopause to begin clinical trials

Researchers in the UK are to test the world’s first testosterone patch for menopause in a move that could have a “huge” potential to improve women’s lives.

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

Whilst oestrogen and progesterone HRT patches are available, women who find menopause impacts their libido can’t be prescribed testosterone on the NHS, leading some to resort to treatments only approved for use on men.

Medherant, a company founded by University of Warwick’s Professor David Haddleton, has raised almost £3m of to develop the pioneering testosterone patch and is preparing to launch clinical trials this autumn.

Assuming trials go well, the treatment could become the only testosterone replacement patch available globally and introduced first in the UK.

“This is a very exciting development for us – the potential of this technology to improve women’s lives is huge,” says Haddleton, Professor of chemistry at the University of Warwick and Medherant’s founder.

“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.”

“This could deliver a product that is much needed and is just not available. With the technology already proven to work we can use our new patch to remove needless misery from women’s daily lives.

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

Since 2015, menopause guidelines issued by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that testosterone supplementation be considered for women with low sexual desire if hormone replacement therapy alone is not effective.

The new patch intends to address the gap in menopause products, providing specific treatment that can be made widely available to women seeking treatment.

John Burt, CEO of Medherant, said: “Having the funding in place for the first clinical trial of our testosterone patch for post-menopausal people will enable Medherant to take a major step towards registration of the product and being able to address this significant gap in the options available for those in this very important stage of their lives.”