Women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder can now improve their libido by using a testosterone patch, according to new research published in the Nov. 6 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

A test of Procter & Gambe’s female sex patch dubbed Intrinsa revealed that a high dose of the hormone helps post-menopausal women enhance desire and sexual functioning.

More than 800 postmenopausal women with low libido and who weren't undergoing estrogen therapy were assigned to one of the three groups: treatment with a patch that delivered 300 micrograms of testosterone per day, treatment with a patch that delivered 150 micrograms of testosterone per day or a placebo patch. After 24 weeks of follow-up, women in the first group reported an average of 2.1 satisfying sexual episodes during a period of four weeks, in contrast with 1.2 sexually satisfying episodes that women on the lower dose experienced, and only 0.7 satisfying episodes for women assigned to the placebo group.

This is the very first study which demonstrates that “when used alone, testosterone administered by a skin patch significantly improves sexual well-being in postmenopausal women," stated the study's lead author, Dr. Susan R. Davis, a professor of women's health at Monash University in Australia.

534 women who followed the two treatments were diagnosed with breast cancer, but none of the placebo recipients (a total of 277 women) had the disease. However, Davis says the cancer cases are likely to be unrelated to treatment with the patches.