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Finally a Male Pill
For sexually active men who want to take part in birth control, there are really two options: condoms and vasectomies. Both have shortcomings.
We found a study though that looks appealing - a drug taken before sex to temporarily stop millions of sperm swimming and fertilizing the egg.
What researchers are focused on is a protein called soluble adenylyl cyclase or sAC. In one study, genetically engineered mice without this protein were sterile.
In a different study, when they blocked the protein to treat an eye condition, an unexpected side effect was mouse sperm that weren't able to swim forward.
Other scientists also discovered that men without an sAC gene were infertile, so these studies suggested drugs targeting sAC in humans might be a good birth control option.
In the latest study, they found several small molecule inhibitors targeting sAC that blocked mouse and human egg fertilization in a lab dish. When a male mouse was given a dose of a sAC inhibitor, it immobilized mouse sperm for two and a half hours and remained effective in the female reproductive tract after mating.
After three hours, the sperm started to regain mobility and within a day, they were back to normal. In fifty-two matings, none of the females became pregnant compared to thirty percent in untreated mice.
And since condoms are only 87% effective and vasectomies are mostly permanent, having a third reliable on-demand option for men is sorely needed.
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More Information
Male contraceptive disables sperm
A compound temporarily disabled mouse and human sperm. It also prevented pregnancies in mice. The findings could potentially lead to a non-hormonal, on-demand contraceptive pill for men...
A non-hormonal pill could soon expand men's birth control options
Women have many choices for birth control, ranging from pills to patches to intrauterine devices, and partly as a result, they bear most of the burden of preventing pregnancy. But men's birth control options - and, therefore, responsibilities - could soon be expanding. Scientists report a non-hormonal male contraceptive that effectively prevents pregnancy in mice, without obvious side effects...
A new, experimental approach to male birth control immobilizes sperm
Scientists are making progress on more options for sperm-producers. A paper published Feb. 14 in the journal Nature Communications, presents a novel approach to male contraception that looks promising in mice...
