Bupropion of no significant benefit for enhancing sexual desire in cancer survivors: Study

USA: Bupropion was not more beneficial than placebo in enhancing the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) desired subscale, according to a recent study led by Debra L. Barton and colleagues. On December 10, 2021, the outcomes of this study were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

Since cancer therapy has a deleterious influence on female sexual function, effective remedies are required. The goal of this multisite trial was to see if two dose levels of extended-release bupropion, a dopaminergic drug, might boost sexual desire more than placebo after 9 weeks, as judged by the desire subscale of the FSFI, and to see if there were any side effects.

For this study postmenopausal women with breast or gynecologic cancer who had undergone decisive cancer therapy and had a low baseline FSFI desire score (3.3) were eligible. Women were randomly randomized to receive either 150 mg or 300 mg of extended-release bupropion once a day, or a corresponding placebo. As the major endpoint, t-tests on the FSFI desire subscale were used to determine if there was a substantially bigger change from baseline to 9 weeks between the placebo and each bupropion arm. Using a one-sided t-test, 62 patients each arm yielded 80 percent power.

The results of this study stated as follow:

1. Through the NRG Oncology NCORP network, 230 women were randomized at random from 72 institutions. There were no statistically significant differences in change of desire subscale ratings between groups after 9 weeks; individuals in all three arms reported improvement.

2. The placebo arm had a mean change of 0.62 (standard deviation [SD] = 1.18), 150-mg once daily bupropion had a mean change of 0.64 (SD = 0.95), and 300-mg once daily bupropion had a mean change of 0.60 (SD = 0.89).

3. Throughout the investigation, total and subscale FSFI scores were low, indicating dysfunction in all groups.

In conclusion, the FSFI subscale and overall scores revealed dysfunction throughout the 9-week period. More research is needed to help female cancer survivors with their sexual function.

Reference:

Barton, D. L., Pugh, S. L., Ganz, P. A., Plaxe, S. C., Koontz, B. F., Carter, J., Greyz-Yusupov, N., Page, S. J., Rowland, K. M., Jr, Balcueva, E. P., Nabeel, S., Basil, J. B., Hill, M. L., Muller, C. Y., Bell, M. C., Deshmukh, S., & Kachnic, L. A. (2021). Randomized Controlled Phase II Evaluation of Two Dose Levels of Bupropion Versus Placebo for Sexual Desire in Female Cancer Survivors: NRG-CC004. In Journal of Clinical Oncology. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.21.01473