We are all playing down how excited we feel said Professor Fogelman

"We are all playing down how excited we feel," said Professor Fogelman.There are about eight million women over 55 in this country compared with an estimated 2.5 million impotent men. In early trials it has been shown to cut cases of newly diagnosed breast cancer by 52 per cent.At its launch last week, Trevor Powles, director of the breast unit at the Royal Marsden hospital, in London, said: "Its potential is immense."I am not a betting man but when the head of the breast unit in Britain's premier cancer hospital says the potential of a new drug is immense I rather wish I had a stockbroker.Consider the attention that Viagra has attracted - and the pleasing response of its manufacturer, Pfizer's, share price - all for a drug that treats a condition suffered by one in ten men of whom at most 30 per cent are expected to come forward to get it.Now consider the potential market for raloxifene (Evista) which may, if its early promise is fulfilled, offer women protection against three of the major diseases associated with ageing - breast cancer osteoporosis and heart disease - in a single pill.Specialists including Ignac Fogelman, professor of nuclear medicine at Guy's hospital, London, say it could become standard treatment for all post-menopausal women after HRT has got them through the immediate symptoms of the menopause. The pace of advance leaves one breathless - and wondering who will foot the bills, for there are some bank-breakers coming in.Take raloxifene, whose trade name is Evista and is made by Eli Lilley. At first glance it appears to be just another new drug licensed, in this case, as a preventive against osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.But when you hear what some of the country's leading specialists have to say about it, it is clear this is no ordinary drug. There was news of improved survival in breast cancer for women who add chemotherapy to their other treatments. And yesterday saw the launch of the first anti-fat pill, orlistat, which, while not directed specifically at women, will be of keen interest to anyone who has ever been on a diet.A week is a long time in medicine. To resolve to spend some time together, to do whatever it takes."`The New Guide to Loving', by Dr Andrew Stanway, is published by Ward Lock, pounds 16.99. IT HAS been a good week for women - and I am not just thinking of Viagra (a hard man is good to find, as Mae West unsentimentally observed).

It began with the launch of the remarkable new drug, raloxifene, which may turn out to be even better at protecting the breast than it has already been proved to be at protecting the bones in older women. In Dr Stanway's experience it is men who feel they are not getting enough sex. Women, he believes, can sublimate their sexuality into other areas such as female friendships and children. "Men tend to focus on genitality but women aren't as function-centred," he says.

"They get sexual rewards from non-genital activity, so they can find alternative tracks to get fulfilment and pleasure." Most couples he says, have to find a balance between genital and other, broader ways of expressing sexuality, and many men are already learning about the pleasures of "just having a cuddle".Most couples, Dr Stanway believes, have no fundamental sexual problem "But they're too busy and they've just got lazy They need to put sex back on the agenda. However much we joke about this now, says Dr Stanway (himself in his 50s and married for 30 years), it worked for many couples. Nowadays what we have is both partners coming home dog tired, wondering whose turn it is to cook, clear up and put the kids to bed. He suggests one way of keeping a relationship going is not to look back and compare things now with how they were in the past.A further problem, he says, is that women aren't actually missing sex that much - or not as much as men, anyway. Men, not surprisingly, would like a return to the days when the carpets were vacuumed and women fragrant. But do we need or want more information about sex? Post-Starr, is there anything new to say about it?Dr Stanway clearly thinks there is. He maintains that despite the media obsession with sex, there is plenty of evidence to show that we are having less than ever before.