A pill for men may hit the market soon, but another birth control pill is being developed to be taken just before sexual activity, which may have even more potential.
Condoms smell bad and cloud the enjoyment of sex. A vasectomy is not an appetizing dish for many people. On principle, who wants a surgeon to dig into your genitals with a scalpel in hand? But what other options do men have to protect themselves from their partner’s unplanned pregnancy? Hence the relevance of male contraceptives.
“50% of the world population Hannah Verdat, executive director of the Male Contraception Initiative (MCI) said: This situation could change soon. “We need different products and they are in development,” he explains Vahdat.
There are two types of male contraception
Currently, I am mainly working on the following: Two approaches to prevent human conception One is hormone therapy, which works much like the pill for women. Taken daily for months to years, the contraceptive effect lasts.
the other is medicine single take taken immediately before sex to provide short-term contraception. “Hormone products are likely to be the first products to hit the market.” to predict Vahdat.
hormone method
Both methods of contraception work interfere with sperm development can cause temporary infertility. Fertility returns to normal when the contraceptive is stopped.
A clinical trial conducted in 2022 found that topical hormone gels Applied daily on men’s shoulders He successfully prevented his partner’s pregnancy. The gel contains synthetic hormones such as testosterone that send messages to the brain to inhibit sperm production in the testicles.
Gel significantly reduced sperm production This mechanism was reversible and sperm levels returned to normal around age 10. 4 months later Please stop using the product.
As with the pill for women, men had to use the gel consistently for effective contraception.
So is the pill. “A man should take hormones every day. 7-10 weeks before infertility due to low sperm count After that, it should be taken continuously. If you stop taking it, it will take him seven to 10 weeks for his fertility to return,” Jochen Buck, a professor of pharmacology at Weill’s Cornell Medical School in the United States, tells his DW.
how to do it without hormones
Nonhormonal contraceptives work similarly. But instead of altering hormone levels, Targeting specific molecules that trigger sperm production .
Gossypol, a substance extracted from cotton, is one of the non-hormonal drugs that cause male infertility. Clinical trials show that the drug works, but it’s probably working too much, as the trials show it’s not reversible. ≥ 20% of subjects .
But Buck and his colleagues are working on a more promising future drug. “When you ejaculate, it mixes with semen and contains signals for sperm to move and look for. Without this, it would not have been possible to get out of the vagina to fertilize the egg. ” .
Buck is one of the scientists who discovered the switch that turns on the signal. adenylyl cyclase Since then, he has developed drugs that inhibit adenylyl cyclase.
Another kind of pre-sex pill
In a recent study published in the journal Nature Communications, a team of American and German researchers led by Buck said: tested for contraception .
“A single dose of a drug that inhibits adenylyl cyclase was administered to male mice, 30 minutes before copulation and It turned out that I remained infertile for several hours. ” Buck, who is in charge of the research, said.
Theoretically, men Take once for 30 minutes Before intercourse, the effects lasted until the night before fertility resumed in the morning. only successful in animals .
Are male contraceptives safe?
“Because the hormonal method of male contraceptives carries the risk of testosterone administration, mood, libido, weight gain HDL (good) cholesterol decreased, and night sweats decreased,” says male reproductive specialist John K. Amory. University of Washington,united states of america.
According to Amory, men who use male hormonal contraceptives They may also be excluded from sports that consider the administration of steroid hormones to be doping. .
Side effects are exactly what slows down the development of male contraceptives. There was a promising trial that was stopped prematurely after participants reported adverse side effects. Female contraceptives are no exception .
It’s too early to talk about side effects when it comes to the non-hormonal drug Buck developed. It is unknown if there are any side effects. How men tolerate drugs in clinical trials .
Source: Biobiochile
