Research on the birth control pill for men is progressing!

For women too, but a little slower.

A team of scientists said Wednesday they have developed a hormone-free male birth control pill that is 99% effective in mice.

This discovery marks an important step for male contraception, which remains very marginal within couples, in particular due to undesirable side effects, although women are also subject to it...

Indeed, the functioning of the female pill is based on hormones that disrupt the menstrual cycle.

Researchers have long tried to develop a male equivalent using the same method and acting on a male hormone, testosterone.

But these attempts caused undesirable side effects such as weight gain, bouts of depression and a rise in cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease… The same as for women, to whom we must also add the increased risk of blood clots. 

A non-hormonal pill

To develop a non-hormonal pill, Md Abdullah Al Noman, who works in Professor Gunda Georg's lab, targeted a protein, the retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-alpha).

Laboratory experiments have shown that without this gene, mice become 99% sterile.

The laboratory has therefore developed a compound that blocks the action of RAR-alpha in four weeks, without any side effects being observed.

And six weeks after stopping the ingestion of this compound called YCT529, the mice could reproduce again.

The team, funded by the US Institutes of Health (NIH) and the non-profit Male Contraceptive Initiative, is working with YourChoice Therapeutics to begin clinical trials in the second half of 2022, the professor said. Gunda Georg.

“I think it can move quickly,” she said, estimating commercialization could occur within five years.

Men “interested in sharing responsibility”

“Many studies show that men are interested in sharing the responsibility for contraception within the couple,” explains Md Abdullah Al Noman, who will present this work at the spring conference of the American Chemical Society.

Today, only two effective and recognized solutions exist to date: condoms and vasectomy – a lasting solution on which it is sometimes complicated (and expensive) to come back.

Other practices, such as heated briefs and the ring around the testicles, remain confidential and not validated by the health authorities.

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  • gender equality

  • Research

  • 20 minute video

  • Contraception

  • Health

  • Society

  • Contraceptive pill

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