Women Seek Testosterone Therapy for Low Libido Amid FDA Review

WHO:

Fox News - Dr. Kudzai Dombo, board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist and Menopause Society-certified practitioner at Alloy Health.

ABC News - Dr. Christina Chang, division director of the division of urology, obstetrics and gynecology in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

ABC News - Dr. Margaret Wierman, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

WHAT:

Fox News - Interest in testosterone therapy among women is rising due to symptoms such as low sexual desire, fatigue, and reduced quality of life during menopause.

ABC News - Testosterone therapy is increasingly being used off-label among menopausal women, despite no FDA-approved formulation for women in the U.S.

ABC News - HRT prescriptions among women ages 50 to 65 rose 72% from 2021 to 2025, according to data from Epic Research.

ABC News - Current evidence supporting testosterone therapy in women is largely focused on hypoactive sexual desire disorder (HSDD).

WHERE:

Fox News - Los Angeles, California, where Dr. Kudzai Dombo practices.

ABC News - The FDA workshop took place in the United States.

WHEN:

Fox News - The FDA convened a public workshop to examine testosterone therapy on a Thursday.

ABC News - The FDA removed its "black box" warning label from HRT products for menopause earlier in the year.

WHY:

Fox News - The lack of FDA-approved testosterone products for women has led to reliance on off-label prescribing and compounded formulations.

ABC News - Women are seeking testosterone for a broader range of concerns, including energy and mood, despite current guidelines not supporting its use for these symptoms.

HOW:

Fox News - Physicians navigate off-label workarounds by using custom compounding pharmacies or micro-dosing FDA-approved male gel packets.

ABC News - Measuring testosterone in women presents challenges due to lower concentrations compared to men, with no established blood-test threshold for diagnosing testosterone deficiency.

(UPDATED September 19, 2026 13:57 UTC)

Interest in testosterone therapy among women is on the rise, driven by symptoms like low sexual desire, fatigue, and reduced quality of life during menopause. Despite the absence of an FDA-approved formulation for women, off-label use of testosterone therapy is becoming more common, with hormone replacement therapy prescriptions for women aged 50 to 65 increasing by seventy-two percent from 2021 to 2025. Physicians are finding ways to navigate this gap, utilizing custom compounding pharmacies and micro-dosing male gel packets, while also facing challenges in measuring testosterone levels due to the lower concentrations found in women.