Male contraceptive gel: couples being recruited for pioneering UK trial

Article here. Excerpt:

'Couples are being recruited to take part in a groundbreaking trial of a male contraceptive gel that could allow men and women to take equal responsibility for birth control in future.

Eighty men in Manchester and Edinburgh will be asked to use a daily gel containing hormones that “send the testes to sleep”, meaning the sperm count drops to zero.

Couples will rely on the gel as their sole contraceptive for a year, as part of a clinical trial to assess how effective it is at preventing pregnancy and whether the side-effects are acceptable.

Richard Anderson, a professor of clinical reproductive science at the University of Edinburgh, who is leading the study, said the method was expected to be more effective than condoms, which in real-life conditions are about 82% effective. “We’re aiming to get it down to the sort of level you get with the pill which is a very small but not zero failure rate,” he said.'