New York - Viagra-popping men soon will meet their match in patch-wearing women.
The latest tool in the battle to rev up listless libidos is a little oval skin patch aimed at boosting a woman's sex drive.
Trial runs of the patch, called Intrinsa, have been so promising that the Food and Drug Administration put it on the fast track to approval yesterday.
"It works," said a 58-year-old Manhattan housewife who participated in a recent study of the Procter & Gamble invention.
The woman said that once she started using the patch, sex with her husband of 29 years went from once a month to twice a week. "He sure is smiling a lot," she said.
The patch was tested on women whose ovaries had been surgically removed, decreasing their hormone levels. The device releases testosterone.
Procter & Gamble officials said if all goes well, the patch could be available for doctors to prescribe sometime next year, and some think it may develop the same kind of buzz as Viagra.
Experts believe the patch eventually could go into wider use to help other postmenopausal women kick their sex drives into a higher gear.
Dr. Hilda Hutcherson, author of the book "What Your Mother Never Told You About Sex," said there is a big need for the drug.
"I've had women tell me, 'I'd rather be cleaning the toilet seat than have sex with my husband, who I love dearly,'" said Hutcherson. "They want to do something about it."
"Some women care so much about their lower libido that they'll talk about it every time you see them, even when you're talking about health issues that seem much more important," said Dr. Lila Nachtigall, an NYU Medical Center professor who treated 30 women in the study.
Unlike Viagra, which men take a few hours before intercourse, Intrinsa takes three to four weeks to start working.
But another woman who participated in the study said it's worth the wait. "It does get your juices flowing, so to speak," she said.
But gynecologists warned that testosterone, which can cause a woman's voice to deepen and body hair to grow, is not for everyone.
"When the drug becomes available, you'll find young women who shouldn't be taking it," Hutcherson said. "They should look for other reasons why they have a decrease in desire."
