July 6, 2010 - Testosterone Gel Trial Halted Due To High Number Of Heart Attacks.

The New York Times (7/6, D7, Rabin) reports, "A federally financed study to see if testosterone gel helps frail elderly men build muscle and strength was abruptly halted late last year after participants taking it suffered a disproportionate number of heart attacks and other serious cardiac problems, and one died of what was apparently a heart attack." The Times says that "researchers were taken aback by the high rate of adverse heart problems." The FDA "has approved it for use only in men with hypogonadism, whose sex glands produce extremely low amounts of testosterone or none at all because of an underlying disorder," yet, "off-label use has increased in recent years."