�This August is Menopause Awareness Month, a good time for women to discuss with their doctors female intimate dysfunction, a real merely often-overlooked medical condition. It may be surprising to learn that approximately 40 million American women lose from some type of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), which rear arise from many causes, including increasing age, certain surgical procedures, the use of prescription pharmaceuticals, disease, or chemical imbalances.
The most common kind of FSD is Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), sometimes referred to as low sex drive. In a study published in the July 14, 2008 edition of the honored medical journal, Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers found that the prevalence of low sexual desire ranged from 26.7% among pre-menopausal women, to 52% among postmenopausal women. Moreover, the incidence of HSDD was as high as 12.5% in surgically menopausal women. (This chemical group of women has had their ovaries removed.)
HSDD has been treated with testosterone for many years, although the hormone has not been specifically approved for that use to engagement. Although testosterone is popularly thought of as a male endocrine, it besides is base in women. Researchers believe, and recent clinical trials support that testosterone levels, which fall with increasing age or the remotion of the ovaries, may influence a woman's sexual desire.
One treatment option in development, LibiGel� by BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BPAX) is intentional to reestablish testosterone levels in postmenopausal women to levels that are considered normal to maintain a healthy libido. LibiGel� is applied once daily exploitation a metered dose bottle that administers a pea-sized amount of gel to be rubbed into the upper sleeve, delivering the required therapy to the bloodstream evenly over 24 hours. The gel is quick drying, non-invasive, and painless going away no trace of residue with virtually no site irritation.
After most a decade of inquiry and development and tests involving three thousand women, Pfizer, creators of the blockbuster male erectile disfunction drug, Viagra, discontinued its own effort at a female sexual dysfunction do drugs in February 2004 following clinical trial failures. According to a February 28, 2004 article in the New York Times, while Pfizer's drug, a compound named R-13, was able to create "the outward signs of arousal in many women, that seems to have little effect on a woman's willingness, or desire, to take sex." By comparison, in a Phase II clinical trial, LibiGel� increased the number of satisfying "sexual events" by 238%.
Currently undergoing Phase III testing, LibiGel� likely will become the first FDA-approved treatment specifically indicated for HSDD in menopausal women, if safety and efficaciousness endpoints ar met and the FDA approves the drug.
For those covering this news, BioSante Pharmaceuticals makes available Dr. Sheryl A. Kingsberg, clinical psychologist and associate professor in the Departments of Reproductive Biology and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Topics for treatment include:
-- How might physicians better broach discussions most female intimate dysfunction with post-menopausal patients?
-- What are some of the causes of female sexual dysfunction in post-menopausal women?
-- What are some of the negative effects of a sudden drop in distaff sexual desire?
-- How does testosterone, popularly thought process of as a male hormone, influence female sexual desire?
-- Why did Pfizer abandon its decade-long attempt at a female sexual disfunction drug?
-- How does BioSante's LibiGel � accost Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and when might it be available to postmenopausal patients?
About Sheryl A. Kingsberg, PhD
Dr. Kingsberg is a clinical psychologist and associate prof in the Departments of Reproductive Biology and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She is also the chief of the Division of Behavioral Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics/Gynecology at MacDonald Women's Hospital.
Dr. Kingsberg has authored numerous peer-reviewed manuscripts as well as various book chapters on topics including change of life and sex, sexual antipathy disorder, the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction, oocyte donation, and infertility. She sits on the editorial boards for the journals Menopause and the International Journal of Impotence Research. Her principal research interests are in sexual medical specialty and the psychological aspects of infertility and menopause.
Dr. Kingsberg discloses that she has received funding from BioSante, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and Procter and Gamble.
About BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: BPAX)
BioSante is a speciality pharmaceutical companionship focused on developing products for female sexual wellness, menopause, contraceptive method and male hypogonadism. BioSante's lead products include LibiGel� (transdermal testosterone gel) in Phase III clinical development by BioSante under a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) SPA (Special Protocol Assessment) for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction (FSD), and estradiol gel). External link" target="_blank">Elestrin� (estradiol colloidal gel) developed through FDA approval by BioSante, indicated for the intervention of moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms associated with menopause, currently marketed in the U.S. Also in development ar Bio-T-Gel�, a testosterone gelatin for male hypogonadism, and an oral contraceptive in Phase II clinical development using BioSante patented engineering science. The electric current market in the U.S. for estrogen and testosterone products is approximately $2.5 billion and for oral contraceptives approximately $3 billion. The company as well is developing its ca phosphate technology (CaP) for novel vaccines, drug pitch and aesthetic medicine (BioLook�). Additional entropy is available online at: http://www.biosantepharma.com.
BioSante Pharmaceuticals
http://www.biosantepharma.com
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