Are there birth control pills for men?

What are birth control pills for men

The pill for men birth control pills for men are a complete analogue of oral contraceptives (OC) for women. They act according to the following principle: I drank a pill - and have sex relatively calmly. You need to take such drugs once a day or a few hours before the intended sexual intercourse.

Of course, oral contraceptives will not protect against sexually transmitted infections. But the risk of becoming a father unplanned will be significantly reduced.

Important note: in theory. The practice is that today it is impossible to buy contraceptive pills for men. Although they have existed for at least several decades.

Why birth control pills for men aren't on sale yet

Female oral contraceptives were developed in the 1960s. Men's - about 10 years earlier than Why We Can’t Have the Male Pill. It would seem that drugs for men should have been the first to conquer the market. But this did not happen - for several reasons.

The first ever male contraceptive pill was synthesized by the American pharmaceutical company Sterling Drug Inc. In the 1950s, her experts isolated a compound called WIN 18446. Experiments on rats showed that animals that received this chemical became temporarily sterile. After taking the drug, the number of living sperm in their semen rapidly decreased. But after a few days, the ejaculate regained its characteristics.

Inspired by the rat experience, the researchers switched to human prisoners in one of the prisons in Oregon. And this experiment also showed amazing results. After 12 weeks of daily pill intake, the participants' sperm count plummeted. Continuing to take the contraceptive on a daily basis, these men could have sex that could not lead to pregnancy. If the tablets were canceled, fertility was fully restored.

Prospective studies stumbled on one caveat: WIN 18446 was incompatible with alcohol. Nausea, vomiting, heart palpitations, sweating - these were the complaints of the drinking participants in this and subsequent experiments.

Potential consumers did not want to put up with such a disadvantage. In addition, female oral contraceptives appeared on the market, and men sighed calmly, shifting the burden of side effects onto their girlfriends.

Certain side effects are acceptable when taking female contraceptives because they are associated with the risk of unwanted pregnancy. But when it comes to male drugs, young healthy men are the control group and any side symptoms are considered unacceptable. Why are there no male oral contraceptives and are men ready for them? …

Professor Lisa Campo-Engelstein Albany College of Medicine (USA), in an article for the BBC

This has long held back the development of male oral contraceptives. But the situation has changed in recent years.

Why do you need birth control pills for men

An important role in the fact that pharmaceutical companies and government organizations again became interested in male OCs was played not only by the successful struggle of women for their rights, but also by social observation.

Even in the United States, almost every second pregnancy (which is about three million out of six every year) is unplanned John Amory. How a male contraceptive pill could work.

The reasons are simple. Female-only contraception is not as effective as we would like. A sensible male simply does not exist.

In fact, only four 'The pill' for guys are available to men: Male birth control option passes safety tests:

Abstinence. For a young healthy man, it is almost impossible.
Interrupted intercourse (PAP). Ineffective Method: One in Five Withdrawal Method (coitus interruptus) - Mayo Clinic PAP practicing couples experience pregnancy during the year.
Condoms. They are also not 100% reliable and can tear.
Vasectomy. This is a rather categorical decision: the procedure is often irreversible.

Male birth control pills could expand this list and reduce unwanted pregnancies. And that would be good for society as a whole.

What are the birth control pills for men and how do they work

To date, there are only two oral contraceptives for men that have successfully completed the first phase of clinical trials. The working title of the first 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 - 11 ‑ beta ‑ MNTDC (11 ‑ beta ‑ methyl ‑ 19 ‑ nortestosterone ‑ 17 ‑ beta ‑ dodecyl carbonate). Both drugs are being developed in parallel, and even the first phase of their clinical trials was completed 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.

Stephanie Page MD, co-developer of both drugs, from the American Endocrine Society release

The active substance in both cases consists of two hormones. In DMAU, these are follicle-stimulating and luteinizing hormones (FSH and LH, respectively). They decrease testosterone and sperm production, but do not cause the symptoms of low testosterone. 11 ‑ beta ‑ MNTDC has progesterone and androgens. This combination decreases ejaculate production but does not affect libido.

Both oral contraceptives were tested for 28 days on volunteers - healthy men aged 18 to 50 years. As a result, the number and quality of the participants' sperm decreased significantly. And side effects (among them headache, acne, slight weight gain) appeared only in a few. And they were so insignificant that none of the participants wanted to end the experiment.

When will male birth control pills go on sale?

Despite the successful completion of the first phase of clinical trials, there is no answer to this question. And the point is not only that full testing has not yet been completed (drugs need to overcome the longer second and third phases of research, information about which is not yet available).

Even if the efficacy and safety of the male birth control pill is proven, there are other limitations. For example, the analytical publication Bloomberg gives Why We Can't Have the Male Pill several arguments why OK's entry into the market will take a long time:

Male oral contraceptives are a completely new product category. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet developed clear guidelines for them. The same applies to supervisory authorities from other countries.
There is reason to believe that the first male product will be more difficult to obtain FDA approval than the first female product. Research standards have changed significantly over the past 60 years. In the 1950s, officials were ready to accept the results of an experiment on prisoners in Oregon. Today, this would be considered immoral.
Pharmaceutical companies are not ready to take risks. If the drug is approved but has serious side effects, the manufacturer will face costly lawsuits. And these appeals will be massive, because men are very sensitive to reproductive health.

Taking all this into account, the researchers assume Second potential male birth control pill passes human safety tests that oral contraceptives for men will be available in 10 years. Until then, you will have to trust only known methods - the same condoms or vasectomy.