A birth control pill for men is in the works

Submitted by Anonymous on Mon, 2010-06-28 21:29

Article here. Excerpt:

'The female birth control pill, commonly referred to as 'The Pill,' is not 100 percent effective, and some women's bodies don't react well to the extra hormones. Now, finally, a new birth control option for men is in the works, which would allow partners to share the responsibility, and let guys be in control of whether or not there will be any surprises in the procreation department.

Prof. Haim Breitbart of Israel's Bar-Ilan University authored a breakthrough paper in 2006 describing how sperm survive in the uterus. Now the biochemist is taking those findings and using them against sperm. He's developed a number of novel compounds that have no affect on male sex drive, but succeed in impairing the reproductive ability of the sperm. If all goes according to his plan, a new male birth control pill could be on the market within the next five years, he tells ISRAEL21c.

So far, the new pill dubbed the Bright Pill (a play on Brietbart's name) has been tested on animal models in a pre-clinical setting, and has been found to work wonderfully on mice. "What we found is that by treating the mice with our molecule we can get sterility for a long period of time; in the lower dose, about one month, and in the higher dose we found three months of sterility.'

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The game-changing male birth control pill has been about 5 years away for the last 30 years. I don't have my hopes up.

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Submitted by Hunchback on Tue, 2010-06-29 02:22

This is great news. More options for birth control is a good thing, and an option for men is even better.

My only advice would be to proceed with caution, and remember there are side effects with everything. Women have been putting up with side effects for years. Men already have one of the cheapest and most effective birth control methods available to them, but some choose not to use it: Vasectomy - for men who don't ever want kids or anymore kids. But this new option will be good for men who want kids in the future.

I am always concerned about causing birth defects when I hear about male birth control . Since most methods of male BC that are being tested involve the hindering of sperm (also referred to as sperm retardant). I worry that there will be a time period of "in between" when a man goes off the birth control method and his sperm is able to fertilize, but still has some of the "retarding" effect. Will a baby have birth defects if he/she is the result of fertilization by a irregular sperm?

Doctors may want to test sperm to see that they are healthy and normal before recommending conception. This would work for a couple planning a pregnancy, but men that are in non-committed relationships this could be a problem. If irregular sperm caused by male birth control increases chances of birth defects if conception does occur, it may not be approved by the FDA.

Male birth control is very very difficult. I agree with Hunchback, that chemical male birth control is a long ways away (but they should keep at it). For men that already have all the kids they want - get a vasectomy it's safer, easier, no side effects, cheaper (all things considered) and reliable.

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Submitted by Kris on Tue, 2010-06-29 07:15