P&G moves closer to 'female Viagra'

PROCTER & Gamble has moved a step closer to becoming the first company to market a drug to treat sexual dysfunction in women.

The company released data from its second large-scale trial which backed up earlier findings that the Intrinsa testosterone patch significantly improved sexual desire and satisfaction in women whose ovaries had been removed.

P&G delivers the findings to the Endocrine Society of America annual meeting in New Orleans tomorrow, but would not be drawn on when it would seek Food and Drug Administration approval for the patch. Insiders suggest it could be on the market as early as next year.

Initially expected to be targeted at women with surgically-induced menopause, P&G hopes that use of Intrinsa will rapidly broaden to include naturally menopausal women as well, worth an estimated $1bn (£550m) in the US and Western Europe.

With development costs of around $100m, that alone would be enough to justify its 'blockbuster' status and put it on a par with Pfizer's Viagra for men.

Yet, with estimates for the rate of female sexual dysfunction as high as 43% of the adult female population, its ultimate market could be much higher.

The fact that Intrinsa has come this far is already encouraging for Procter & Gamble. The search for a socalled female Viagra has so far proved elusive. Pfizer has already abandoned its programme of testing a drug for women.