Low Testosterone: The Latest Big Marketing Push by US Drug Companies

Last Updated on March 24, 2013 by Jimson Lee

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Next to diet pills, the next big fad in the consumer market is anti-aging products and that includes testosterone, growth hormones and even Deprenyl.  Basically, we all want to either lose weight or gain muscle! 

So what are your choices in increasing testosterone? 

Let’s see:

Abbott Laboratories’ Androgel, a billion-dollar selling testosterone gel that can be applied to the shoulders and arms.

Watson Pharmaceuticals now sells its Androderm patch, which slowly releases testosterone into the bloodstream.

And then there is Eli Lilly’s Axiron is an underarm gel that rolls on like deodorant.

And more is coming, trust me…

For more research on Testosterone, here are the top 5 reads on this Blog:

• Testosterone Creams & Gels: Victor Conte Revisited
• How To Increase Natural Testosterone, Naturally
• Sleep Deprivation and Testosterone Levels
• InsideTracker: How to Track and Improve your Testosterone & Zinc levels, Naturally
• Research Review: Testosterone, Growth Hormone, Nutrition and Training

Unfortunately testosterone products is becoming the mass market hormone.

Photo Credits: MARTIN SHIELDS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Full article here on Time.com:

Doctors say that’s led to an increase in men seeking treatment for low testosterone. Prescriptions for the hormone have increased nearly 90 percent over the last five years, according to IMS Health. Last year, global sales reached $1.9 billion.

Former marathon runner Damon Lease, 50, had been complaining of low energy and depression, for which his doctor prescribed a combination of four psychiatric drugs. But since he started taking twice-a-week testosterone injections in May, he says he’s been able to stop taking two of the medications and hopes to eliminate them completely. He says he has more energy, improved mood and concentration.

“I spent 27 years running long distances, I like biking, I like hiking, and I guess every guy wants to have an active sex life … I want to keep doing those things as long as I can,” says Lease, who works as a software company executive. “I feel 20 years younger.”

Despite its rising popularity, testosterone therapy is not completely new. Testosterone injections were long used for men with hypogonadism, a disorder defined by low testosterone caused by injury or infection to the reproductive or hormonal organs.

But the latest marketing push by drugmakers is for easy-to-use gels and patches that are aimed at a much broader population of otherwise healthy older men with low testosterone, or androgen deficiency. The condition is associated with a broad range of unpleasant symptoms ranging from insomnia to depression to erectile dysfunction. Drug companies peg this group at about 15 million American men, though federal scientists do not use such estimates.