University of Warwick spin out company to develop world's only testosterone patch for menopause
A company born out of ground-breaking research at The University of Warwick has raised almost £3 million of to develop a testosterone patch for people suffering from low libido and reduced zest for life due to the menopause.
Medherant, founded by University of Warwick's, Professor David Haddleton, is aiming to begin clinical trials of this pioneering treatment in Autumn 2023. Medherant is ultimately aiming to get approval for clinical use, subject to a successful trial.
Assuming trials go well, this would be the only testosterone replacement patch available globally and introduced first in the UK.
Whilst oestrogen and progesterone HRT patches are available, there is currently no transdermal delivery patch available for testosterone delivery for women suffering from adverse symptoms from the menopause. Testosterone is an essential hormone for women and its production declines in post-menopausal people.
David Haddleton, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Warwick and Medherant's founder said: "This is a very exciting development for us – the potential of this technology to improve women's lives is huge. The work we're doing at Medherant and at Warwick isn't just theoretical, but instead aimed at a problem women are facing which can drastically affect their everyday lives and jobs."
"This could deliver a product that is much needed and is just not available. With the technology already proven to work we can use our new patch to remove needless misery from women's daily lives. We hope this will transform life for those suffering from post-menopause issues nationally, and indeed globally".
Since 2015, Menopause Guidelines issued by National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend that testosterone supplementation be considered for menopausal people with low sexual desire if hormone replacement therapy alone is not effective.
However, there are no currently approved testosterone products specifically for women. Currently, women seeking treatment for the effects of menopause on libido cannot be prescribed testosterone on the NHS, with many having to use irregular doses of gel only approved for use on men.
This new patch is intended to address this gap in menopause products, providing specific treatment that can be made widely available.
John Burt, CEO of Medherant, said: "Having the funding in place for the first clinical trial of our testosterone patch for post-menopausal people will enable Medherant to take a major step towards registration of the product and being able to address this significant gap in the options available for those in this very important stage of their lives."
The funding round was led by Mercia Asset Management who focus on businesses in the West Midlands who are looking to expand.
