Intrinsa

The New York Times discusses Intrinsa, a testosterone delivering patch: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/02/health/02patch.html.

Procter and Gamble is trying to get FDA approval for Intrinsa. Intrinsa is mildly effective at increasing female sexual desire:

"In clinical trials, women who used Intrinsa had an increase in the number of 'satisfying episodes' of sex to five a month, from three. But women who received the placebo also had an increase - to four a month, from three. The definition of satisfying sex was left to the women, who kept log books during the clinical trials."

"Procter & Gamble is initially seeking F.D.A. approval for Intrinsa as a treatment for women who have had their ovaries removed. It said that 17 to 30 percent of the 10 million women who have undergone such surgery have 'hypoactive sexual desire disorder,' meaning low sex drive that they find distressing."

If the FDA approves Intrinsa, doctors can prescribe it off-label for other populations and disorders. The market for Intrinsa could be as big as the market for Viagra:

"The shares of Procter & Gamble gained $1.18 yesterday, to close at $54.66"

Unfortunately, like any medication, Intrinsa does have side effects
(from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15065634):

"Possible risks include hirsutism, acne, liver dysfunction, lowering of the voice, adverse lipid changes, virilization of a female fetus, and, as androgens are aromatized to estrogens, potentially the risks of estrogen therapy."

So Intrinsa can give women mildly increased sex drive at the expense of increased body hair, increased facial hair, high cholesterol, and possible birth defects in female offspring. If Intrinsa is approved by the FDA, lawyers will have a field day. After it has been out for several months, we will see ads in newspapers trying to get women who took it to sue Procter and Gamble. Due to the cholesterol-raising effects, this medication probably will slightly increase the risk of heart attacks in women who take it.