Peak patriarchy + still no testosterone patch

The glaring unfairness of men's vs women's health

Photo by Raygar He on Unsplash

I’ll blame the patriarchy now and then, but for the most part I like dudes.

However I became incensed this morning at breaking news that the US FDA had approved a new erectile dysfunction gel for men.

It is available over-the-counter, works in 10 minutes, and led to a successful conclusion in 65 percent of the people who tried it.

It’s called Eroxon and is made by Futura Medical, a British pharmaceutical company.

Meanwhile, next year will mark the 20th anniversary of the FDA rejecting Procter & Gamble’s application for Intrinsa, the testosterone patch for women.

The body said there wasn’t enough safety evidence from their 24 weeks of clinical trials, and that the data wasn’t peer-reviewed. P&G said they’d work to get it, then later abandoned the project.

I’m pretty sure we’ve had some therapies approved in the last three years with less safety evidence than that. I guess you call that progress?