CAUSE FOR CONCERN
Physicians wrote more than two million prescriptions for HRT in 2003. Many were for off-label use, intended to revive testosterone levels that wane with age.
"Fatigued? Depressed mood? Low sex drive? Could be your testosterone is running on empty." This Web sales pitch1 comes not from one of the myriad disreputable companies peddling 21st-century snake oils such as "Libido Enhancement Cream." Rather, the site belongs to Solvay Pharmaceuticals, Marietta, Ga., which produces Androgel, a prescription testosterone-laced gel that received approval from the Food and Drug Administration three years ago.
The drug is at the forefront of a campaign to convince men that they must replace the steroid hormones that ebb as they age. But some expert groups fear that the campaign for male hormone replacement therapy is running way ahead of the data, and they have launched a counter-effort to slow it down. Potential consumers need more ...
