Testosterone gel targets ‘male menopause’

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MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: A small Scottish company is launching a treatment for “male menopause”. British men of a certain age who are balding, irritable and losing interest in sex could find some relief. From London, here’s Stephen Beard.

STEPHEN BEARD: The company, called ProStrakan, is aiming its product squarely at the flagging libido of some middle-aged British men. The company reckons that 12 percent of men over the age of 40 need a testosterone boost. Their symptoms: baldness, weight gain, irritability and impotence.

ProStrakan’s treatment is in the form of a gel. Patients rub it over themselves once a day. The company is forecasting revenues of up to $150 million a year in Britain. And, says Callum Spreng of ProStrakan, it could notch up even bigger sales in the U.S.

CALLUM SPRENG: Well, the U.S. market is significantly more developed than that in Europe and is reckoned to be worth of the order of $500 million.

The company is planning to file for U.S. approval next year — and if successful, would like to launch the product there in 2009.

In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.