Eureka! Male Birth Control Pill Has Passed Human Safety Tests
This should be good news but we have no idea how the menfolk will view it. Male birth control pill has just been declared safe and effective. Birth control pills for men has faced a number of obstacles in the past because men are able to produce a copious 1500 sperm cells that’s hard to tame per second.
It however looks like male options for pregnancy prevention are finally crossing the barriers, the new pill has been cleared as safe in clinical trials. The trials were completed at Los Angeles Biomed Research Institute and the University of Washington.
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What Is It Called And How Does It Work?
The drug is dubbed 11-beta-MNTDC and works by reducing hormones required for sperm production. It is made with a testosterone-like compound which researchers say keeps “maleness” intact, according to the UK Guardian.
Men who popped the new hormone-suppressing capsule during a month long study saw their sperm count “markedly” plunge — with no serious side effects, scientists said at an annual Endocrine Society meeting.
11-beta-MNTDC has no adverse effects on the male sex drive, even though observers predict it will probably take 10 long years before a commercial male contraceptive pill is commonplace.
“Since testosterone production is shut down in the testes, the androgen action in the rest of the body maintains ‘maleness’ elsewhere, supporting things like male pattern hair, deep voice, sex drive and function, and lean body mass,”
said Stephanie Page, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, who worked on the trial.
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The Study
During the study, 40 healthy men, ages 18 to 50, were given either the drug or a placebo over a 28-day period. None of them dropped out of the experiment or had less sex during the trial but some felt mild side effects, researchers said.
Four to six of them reported headaches, fatigue or acne and five felt a mildly decreased libido. Experts now need to study sperm production as it relates to the drug in more detail, said researcher Christina Wang, who worked on the study.
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Scientists have been testing possible male contraceptives — including pills, injections and gels — to find an alternative to condoms and vasectomies for years.
It will likely be a decade long wait before a male birth control pill will likely hit the market, the researchers said.