NIHR HTA Testosterone Efficacy & Safety (TestES) Consortium

About the consortium

Men with symptomatic low testosterone levels (hypogonadism) may experience erectile problems, brittle bones (osteoporosis), weakness, feeling down (low mood) and tiredness. The symptoms of low testosterone can be treated with testosterone, otherwise known as Androgen Replacement Therapy (ART). However, doctors are uncertain about the safety and benefits of giving men ART, because clinical trials on this topic often disagree with each other.

The Testosterone Efficacy & Safety (TestES) Consortium is funded by the National Institute of Healthcare Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) in the UK. TestES uses a rigorous approach called Individual Patient Data (IPD) to impartially select and combine clinical trials data from around the world. It will answer three specific questions:

• What are the benefits and risks to men with hypogonadism taking ART?
• What is the experience and acceptability of ART in men with hypogonadism?
• What is the cost-effectiveness of giving ART to men with hypogonadism?

The study commenced in September 2018 and will run until August 2020.

Our collaborators

The NIHR TestES consortium is led by Dr Channa Jayasena, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Reproductive Endocrinology & Andrology at Imperial College London. Collaborating UK centres are the University of Aberdeen, University of Manchester, Newcastle University NHS Trust & University of Cardiff.

To date, the following clinical trial investigators have agreed to collaborate in the NIHR TestES Consortium:

• Marianne Skovsager Andersen - Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark
• Antonio Aversa - University of Catanzaro, Magna Graecia, Italy
• Shalender Bhasin - Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, USA
• Mathis Grossmann - University of Melbourne, Australia
• Geoffrey Hackett - Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham, UK
• Peter J. Snyder - University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
• Hui Meng Tan - University of Malaya, Malaysia 
• Marielle Emmelot-Vonk, UMC Utrecht, Netherlands
• Erik Giltay, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, NL
• Kristina Groti, Ljubljana University Medical Centre, Ljubljana, Slovenia
• Kerry Hildreth, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, USA
• Lilly inc., Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
• Leonard Marks, UCLA, California, USA
• Richard Ross, University of Sheffield, UK
• Johan Svartberg, University of Tromso, Tromso, Norway
• Lisa Tenover, Stanford University, California, USA
• Fred Wu, University of Manchester, UK