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New male contraceptive pills on their way!

male contraceptive pill

Scientists are on their way to develop a hormone-free contraceptive pill CDB-4022 for men that would prohibit pregnancy without inducing any long-run effect on their fertility. As soon as the intake of this drug is ceased, sperm comes back to original level immediately without hampering sex-drive, hormone levels and libido. This pill is being developed from a synthetic compound, which was initially used as an antihistamine. Researchers are expecting that it can be effectively used as a contraceptive, since it was never required to cure allergies. The synthetic component is presumed to obstruct an initial phase of the development of sperm. In this stage, other cells (known as Sertoli cells) feed and nurture the undeveloped sperm. However, this pill will have no effect on mature sperm and men would have to revert to another contraception option for a few weeks until these sperm die out or are used up. This compound also has additional benefit of unchanging hormone levels in the body and hence creates lesser number of side-effects than other similar contraceptive drugs. Scientists have till now tested this drug only on animals, but they promise that experiments on human beings will be initiated shortly.
This ongoing research is being sponsored by the government of USA. Approximately, £21 billion is spent worldwide every year on female contraceptive pills, which are basically hormone-laden with potential adverse effects on the body.

Scientists from US’s Bioqual research firm, Pittsburgh and Illinois universities have made trials of this new drug CDB-4022 on monkeys and noticed that this pill reduced production of sperm considerably in them, so much that they were almost considered infertile by the end of three weeks. However, sperm count returned to normal level as soon as the pills were stopped. There was no indication of any adverse side-effect or changes in hormonal levels and libido of the monkeys. This is surely an optimistic sign since previous attempts of developing male contraceptive drugs always failed as they disrupted hormonal balance and caused several side-effects such as hot flushes, mood swings and low sex drive. Many of the other contemporary measures to prevent pregnancy are in the form of injections, artificial implants and patches, instead of pills.
This new drug is prescribed to be taken daily by men and in a way it is advantageous to women also. They do not have to dread about those harmful female contraceptive pills that not only have adverse effects on their hormones, but also have the potential to cause breast cancer and critical blood clots. On a more general outlook, the responsibility of avoiding an unwanted pregnancy can now be mutually shared by both the partners, instead of the orthodox belief that only women should take care of the matter. A male fertility expert at Sheffield University and secretary of the British Fertility Society, Allan Pacey was quoted saying,

Anything that could be taken at home every day as a pill and would change the production or quality of sperm very quickly without changing hormones is a good thing.

He also added,

A bigger concern is whether women would trust their men to take it…The evidence suggests they would. There are a number of studies that show most women are trusting of their partners when they are in a stable relationship…It comes back to this probably only being a contraceptive that is appropriate for men in a relationship.

He is also of the opinion that this drug will not have many buyers from a committed relationship. He has also revealed a disadvantage of this drug, by saying that it will not shield humans against sexually transmitted diseases, such as Chlamydia. Family Planning Association’s Rebecca Findlay said:

The two choices available for men are the condom and vasectomy…The development of a male pill would be very exciting and really useful for a lot of relationships.

According to Sheri Hild, one of the researchers in this project and a researcher from Bioqual,

It was a beautiful study…Sperm counts went down to a level considered infertile and came back up on their own…And it didn’t have any effects on hormones such as testosterone, so we are very excited about it.

He now intends to undertake other projects in which male animals will be mated with their female counterparts to precisely conclude whether these pills can actually avert pregnancy. She conceives that though a weekly pill can also be possibly developed, there is higher probability of men not forgetting to take the daily tablets. It can be expected that the scientists will complete this project soon and a male contraceptive pill will be developed before long, which can be used conveniently without fearing any possible side-effects.

Source: dailymail

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