Testosterone Drugs Do Not Help With Ejaculation Problems: Study

Amid continuing concerns about the potential side effects of testosterone drugs, a new study raises questions about one of the potential benefits, indicating that the medications failed to help men with ejaculation problems who were suffering from low testosterone levels. 

In a study published earlier this month in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, researchers with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston found that even using testosterone replacement therapy to raise men’s testosterone to normal levels did not help alleviate problems with ejaculation.

Researchers conducted a clinical trial on 76 men with ejaculatory dysfunction problems, including delayed ejaculation, an inability to ejaculate, low volume ejaculation or reduced force ejaculation. Some men were given testosterone gel to apply to their bodies to raise testosterone levels and some were given a placebo. The men were told to keep a sexual activity log for the four months of the study.

The men given real testosterone showed levels in the normal range after treatment after four months. Both the men given testosterone and those given a placebo saw a small improvement in ejaculation dysfunction symptoms. However, the differences between the two groups were not statistically significant, meaning the group given testosterone did no better statistically than those given a placebo.

Low Testosterone Treatment Safety Concerns

The study comes as a growing number of Androgel lawsuit, Testim lawsuits, Axiron lawsuit or other testosterone drug lawsuits continue to be filed against manufacturers of the drugs, alleging that the manufacturers failed provide adequate warnings about the risk of cardiovascular injuries, maintaining in many cases that the risks outweighed the benefits provided by the low T treatments.

In November 2013, research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that older men who began taking testosterone drugs following coronary angiography were more likely to suffer cardiovascular events, such as a heart attack, stroke or death.

That study was followed by additional research published in the medical journal PLoSOne in January 2014, which found that side effects of testosterone drugs may double the risk of heart attacks for men over the age of 65, regardless of their prior health condition, as well as double the risk for younger men with a prior history of heart disease.

In January 2015, another study published in the medical journal Pharmacotherapy found that first time testosterone users may be 40% more likely to have a heart attack when compared to men who did not use the drugs.

The FDA announced another warning label update for testosterone therapy in March 2015, indicating that new information would be added about the evidence of a link between testosterone drugs and heart problems.

In addition, the agency indicated that use of testosterone therapy should be limited to men diagnosed with hypogonadism, which causes unnaturally low testosterone. Doctors were encouraged not to prescribe testosterone drugs for so-called “life-style” reasons, such as addressing decreased energy levels or sexual drive experienced by most men as they get older.

Testosterone Therapy Lawsuits

There are currently more than 2,000 product liability lawsuits filed by men throughout the U.S. who have suffered a sudden heart attack, stroke, deep vein thrombosis or death while using the popular low T drugs.

All of the complaints involve similar allegations that drug makers manufactured the disease of “low T” through aggressive marketing, resulting in men using the prescription drugs when they had no real medical need. Plaintiffs claim that if the manufacturers had warned about the risk of testosterone health problems, severe and sometimes fatal injuries may have been avoided.

In the federal court system, the testosterone litigation has been centralized as part of an MDL, or Multidistrict Litigation, for coordinated pretrial proceedings.

A small group of Androgel cases are being prepared for trial. Known as “bellwether” cases, a series of six trials are scheduled to begin about one-per-month between October 2016 and April 2017, to help gauge how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that is likely to be offered throughout the litigation.