Research in mice has brought scientists a step closer to developing a non-hormonal oral contraceptive for men.
“Scientists have been trying for decades to develop an effective male oral contraceptive, but there are still no approved pills on the market,” Md Abdullah al Noman, researcher and graduate student at the University of Minnesota said in a press release.
“We wanted to develop a nonhormonal male contraceptive to avoid… side effects.”
When we talk about birth control, especially oral contraception, the norm is for one to think about women. Women have for the longest time been the gender that has more birth control options available for use. These include the implant, IUD, shot, patch, ring, pill, and abstinence.
By contrast, men only have three birth control options. These include male condoms, vasectomy, and abstinence. Condoms are single-use and aren’t always effective. Vasectomy is a semi-permanent surgical procedure and can be expensive to reverse. And abstinence…well…that’s a story for another day.
It has been difficult for scientists to develop an effective male oral contraceptive due to the side effects and motivation from men to take it. It’s difficult to imagine that a man would willingly take the birth control pill. As it stands, women outnumber men even in sterilization procedures even though a female tubal ligation is far more invasive than a vasectomy.
Many of the male contraceptive options currently in clinical trials target the male sex hormone called testosterone. This can cause a variety of side effects including depression, weight gain, and an increase in cholesterol levels.
The research presented at the American Chemical Society found that the nonhormonal male contraceptive called YCT529 was able to make mice sterile without side effects. The same mice were then able to impregnate other mice four to six weeks after they had stopped receiving YCT529.
Human trials of the drug are expected to take place later in 2022, but the experts who spoke with Healthline caution the same results might not necessarily be seen in humans.
Dr Michael Eisenberg, a professor of urology and male infertility at Stanford, says part of the challenge in creating an oral contraceptive for men is targeting the right part of the reproductive tract.
“You have to find a target and you want to make it specific to the reproductive tract in some way, shape, or form, and really not have any off-target effects,” he told Healthline.
“The testicle itself is supposed to be an immuno-privileged site. So what that means is sometimes it can be hard to target a medication there specifically… the way the testicle is situated… the way that our body has developed a way to create sperm really limits what can get into that area.”
“Of mice and men and the great divide between them. It’s hard to ask a mouse about moodiness or fatigue or other side effects that may manifest in human studies. I am eager to see what the human trials show,” Mills said.
So as it stands, the general flow of things suggests that one day a man will also walk into a pharmacy to purchase a pack of male oral contraception. One day a woman will ask a man before being intimate “Are you taking a pill or on contraception?” One day a man will also be going about his daily business and think “Oh my! I forgot to take my pill yesterday.” That will be both interesting and hilarious!