What are male contraceptive pills
Male contraceptive pills The pill for men are a complete analogue of oral contraceptives (OC) for women. They work on the principle: take a pill — and engage in sex relatively calmly. These medications need to be taken once a day or a few hours before the expected sexual act.
From sexually transmitted infections, oral contraceptives, of course, will not protect. But they significantly reduce the risk of unplanned fatherhood.
An important note: in theory. The practice is such that today male contraceptive pills cannot be purchased. Although they have existed for at least a few decades.
Why male contraceptive pills are not yet available
Female oral contraceptives were created in the 1960s. Male ones were developed about 10 years earlier Why We Can’t Have the Male Pill . It would seem that products for men should have been the first to conquer the market. But this did not happen for several reasons.
The first male contraceptive pill in history was synthesized by the American pharmaceutical company Sterling Drug Inc. In the 1950s, its experts isolated a compound called WIN 18446. Experiments on rats showed that animals given this chemical substance became temporarily infertile. After taking the drug, the number of live sperm in their semen rapidly decreased. But after a few days, the ejaculate restored its characteristics.
Encouraged by the rat experiment, researchers turned to humans — prisoners of one of the prisons in Oregon. And this experiment also showed stunning results. After 12 weeks of daily pill intake, the number of sperm in the participants' seminal fluid sharply decreased. By continuing to take the contraceptive daily, these men could engage in sex without the risk of pregnancy. If the pills were stopped, fertility was completely restored.
Prospective studies stumbled on one nuance: WIN 18446 proved to be incompatible with alcohol. Nausea, vomiting, rapid heartbeat, sweating — these were the complaints of drinking participants in this and subsequent experiments.
With such a drawback, potential consumers were unwilling to accept it. Moreover, female oral contraceptives emerged on the market, and men breathed easy, shifting the burden of side effects onto their partners.
When using female contraceptives, certain side effects are acceptable because they are compared to the risk of unwanted pregnancy. But when it comes to male products, the control group consists of young healthy men, and any side symptoms are considered unacceptable Why are there no male oral contraceptives and are men ready for them? .
It is precisely this that has long impeded the development of male oral contraceptives. But in recent years, the situation has changed.
Why male contraceptive pills are needed
An important role in the renewed interest of pharmaceutical companies and governmental organizations in male OCs was played not only by women's successful fight for their rights but also by social observations.
Even in the USA, almost every second pregnancy (about three million of the six million annually) is unplanned John Amory. How a male contraceptive pill could work .
The reasons here are simple. Exclusively female contraception is not as effective as one would like. And a reliable male option simply does not exist.
In fact, men have access to only four ‘The pill’ for guys: Male birth control option passes safety tests contraception options:
- Abstinence. For a young healthy man, it is practically impossible.
- The withdrawal method (coitus interruptus). An ineffective method: one in five Withdrawal method (coitus interruptus) — Mayo Clinic couples practicing withdrawal will face pregnancy within a year.
- Condoms. Also not 100% reliable and can break.
- Vasectomy. This is quite a categorical decision: often the procedure is irreversible.
Male contraceptive pills could expand this list and reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. And this would benefit society as a whole.
What male contraceptive pills exist and how they work
Currently, there are only two oral contraceptives for men that have successfully completed the first phase of clinical trials. The working name of the first one is DMAU Effects of 28 Days of Oral Dimethandrolone Undecanoate in Healthy Men: A Prototype Male Pill (dimethandrolone undecanoate). The second Second potential male birth control pill passes human safety tests is 11-beta-MNTDC (11-beta-methyl-19-nortestosterone-17-beta-dodecylcarbonate). Both drugs are being developed simultaneously, and even the first phase of their clinical trials finished almost simultaneously — in February-March 2019.
The goal is to find a compound that has the least side effects and is most effective Second potential male birth control pill passes human safety tests .
The active substance in both cases consists of two hormones. In DMAU, these are follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone (FSH and LH, respectively). They reduce the production of testosterone and sperm but do not cause symptoms characteristic of low testosterone. In 11-beta-MNTDC, there are progesterone and androgens. This combination decreases the production of ejaculate but does not affect libido.
Both oral contraceptives were tested over 28 days on volunteers — healthy men aged 18 to 50 years. As a result, the quantity and quality of sperm in the participants significantly decreased. And side effects (including headaches, acne, slight weight gain) were observed only in some. And they were so minor that none of the participants wanted to end the experiment.
When will male contraceptive pills be available for sale
Despite successfully completing the first phase of clinical trials, there is no answer to this question. And it's not just that full testing is not yet complete (the drugs need to pass longer second and third phases of studies, information about which is still lacking).
Even if the effectiveness and safety of male contraceptive pills are confirmed, there are other limitations. For example, the analytical publication Bloomberg cites Why We Can’t Have the Male Pill several arguments why the market release of OCs will be delayed:
- Male oral contraceptives represent a completely new category of products. The American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet developed clear guidelines for them. The same applies to regulatory agencies from other countries.
- There are reasons to believe that the first male drug will find it harder to gain FDA approval than the first female one. Research standards have changed significantly over the last 60 years. In the 1950s, officials were willing to accept the results of experiments on prisoners in Oregon. Today, however, such would be considered immoral.
- Pharmaceutical companies are unwilling to take risks. If the drug is approved but has serious side effects, the manufacturer will face costly lawsuits. And these claims will be widespread, as reproductive health in men is treated very sensitively.
Considering all this, researchers predict Second potential male birth control pill passes human safety tests that oral contraceptives for men will be available in about 10 years. Until then, one will have to rely only on known methods — the same condoms or vasectomy.
