Boon and bane of male contraceptives

A new birth control pill for males has been found to be 99 percent effective in preventing pregnancy in tests in mice.

The first male birth control pill which was created by researchers at the University of Minnesota, could begin human testing before the end of the year.

Presenting their findings at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society this week, scientists will announce the creation of a new non-hormonal male contraceptive pill that effectively prevents pregnancy in mice without obvious side-effects.

The research team noted that mice who were given the compound, called GPHR-529, for four weeks showed a significant drop in semen, rendering them sterile.

When the treatments were stopped, the mice returned to normal levels of virility within four to six weeks.

“Scientists have been trying for decades to develop an effective male oral contraceptive, but there are still no approved pills on the market,” Dr Abdullah Al Noman, who presented the work at the meeting, said.

The breakthrough medication could bring balance to the contraceptive burden, with far fewer options available to men.

Rather than using hormones, the pill targets interactions with vitamin A, which is a key component in fertility.

(Hormonal pills carry the potential of weight gain and changes in libido and could lower levels of “good” cholesterol, causing potential heart issues.)

While women can take several pills or use patches or intrauterine devices, men only have access to single-use condoms which are prone to failure and largely irreversible vasectomies.

Vasectomies are surgical procedures that can potentially be reversed but are generally considered a permanent form of male sterilisation.

According to researchers, the reversal surgery is “expensive and not always successful showing the need for “an effective, long-lasting but reversible contraceptive, similar to the birth control pill for women”.

In 2018, a pair of researchers said they had found a way to halt the movement of sperm by using an extract from a plant that African warriors and hunters once used as a heart-stopping poison on the tips of their arrows. Studies are still continuing on that contraceptive method.

A male contraceptive gel, which is rubbed on the shoulder daily, is also in clinical trials at present.