HEALTH

Hormone Drug Deal: SPI Pharmaceuticals Inc. is beefing up its line of drugs for treating illnesses caused by a lack of testosterone--the male sex hormone.

The company, based in Costa Mesa, said Monday that it has signed a deal with a New Jersey drug manufacturer to distribute a drug that replaces the lost hormone or boosts deficient testosterone.

Terms were not disclosed.

SPI spokesman Paul Knopick said the licensing deal with Schering-Plough Corp. of Madison, N.J., increases SPI’s own line of such chemicals. SPI already manufactures such drugs, but the license to sell Schering-Plough’s Oreton Methyl “gives us a more complete package,” Knopick said. “This adds to our line.”

Drugs such as Oreton Methyl can treat a wide range of male illnesses, such as impotence and other chemical imbalances. Oreton Methyl can also be used to treat inoperable metastatic breast cancer for women who are one to five years past menopause.