Male birth control pills might soon become a reality

As most contraceptives are developed for women with uteruses, those with testes have few alternatives for preventing conception. Scientists are now working on a non-hormonal birth control pill for men, which has shown to be effective in mice trials. Human trials could begin as soon as the end of the year, according to the contraceptive developers.

“Despite advances in reproductive healthcare, women are still forced to spend their fertile years shouldering the responsibility of contraception,” a British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) spokesperson told Medical News Today.

According to Gizmodo’s Ed Cara, the new pill developed by a team at the University of Minnesota prevents proteins from binding to vitamin A, which is known to be important for mammalian fertility and virility. According to studies presented this week at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting, the medicine is 99 percent efficient at preventing pregnancy in mice and has no known negative effects.

When mice were given the medication orally for four weeks, their sperm count plummeted to the point that they became sterile. When the researchers stopped giving the mice the medicine, they discovered that the mice’s virility returned to normal in four to six weeks.

According to Hannah Seo of Popular Science, depending on the results of human studies, the medicine could soon be the first effective way of birth control for those with testes other than condoms or surgery.

This contraception is anticipated to have fewer side effects because it is non-hormonal. Male birth control drugs in the past mostly operated by inhibiting testosterone, which can lead to depression, weight gain, and a reduction in libido. Even when the mice were given extremely high doses of the new medicine, the rodents appeared to be alright.