If you’ve been waiting for a male birth control pill: Scientists say they have successfully tested one on mice. It is 99% effective and does not cause any side effects, because it does not use hormones like current female birth control pills.
The drug is expected to be tested in humans by the end of this year. If successful, this would be a major milestone in the field of birth control. Oral contraceptives for men will reduce the burden of contraception and the side effects of the drug currently placed on women.
It is both a scientific step forward and a step forward in promoting gender equality.
Humans have been searching for a male contraceptive for 60 years
The results of the new study were presented by scientists at the Spring Annual Meeting of the American Chemical Society. Abdullah Al Noman, representative of the research team from the University of Minnesota said:
Since the female birth control pill was first approved in the 1960s, researchers have been interested in a drug that works equally well for men.
“Many studies show that men are also interested in sharing the responsibility of contraception with their partners – but so far, only two options have worked: condoms or a vasectomy“, Noman said.
However, many men do not like to wear condoms. Some can’t even use this method of birth control because they are allergic to latex.
A vasectomy can become an irreversible procedure. That’s because vasectomy after ligation is expensive and not always successful. Rarely do young men choose this method of contraception.
In terms of female birth control pills, they all use hormones to disrupt the menstrual cycle. There have been attempts historically to develop a similar hormone for men, targeting the male sex hormone testosterone.
Why is it so difficult to make a male birth control pill?
The problem with the hormone method, however, is that it causes a lot of side effects, including weight gain, depression, and increased levels of bad cholesterol called low-density lipoproteins in the blood. This type of cholesterol can increase your risk of cardiovascular disease later in life.
The women’s birth control pill has many other side effects, including the risk of blood clots – but because women are faced with pregnancy without contraception, those risks are still weighed.
A male birth control pill that does not affect hormones
To develop a hormone-free drug, Norman targeted vitamin A, which is essential for fertility in humans, and also other mammals.
In the past, scientists have observed that vitamin A deficiency in the diet can lead to male infertility. They found that when ingested, the body converts vitamin A into different forms, including retinoic acid, which plays an important role in cell development, sperm formation and embryo development. pregnant.
But in order to perform these functions, retinoic acid would need to interact with a protein known as the “retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha”. By turning off the gene that produces RAR-alpha in mice, the scientists found that the male mice became infertile.
With humans, of course, we cannot genetically modify a man just to make him infertile. Instead, Noman and Gunda Georg, a chemistry professor also from the University of Minnesota, developed a compound that blocks the action of RAR-alpha.
Called YCT529, the compound has the ability to cut off RAR-alpha interactions, thereby temporarily shutting down male fertility. Norman used computer algorithms to design the best molecular structure of YCT529.
“If we know what a keyhole looks like, we can make a better key – that’s where the computational model comes into play.“, he said. According to Noman, YCT529 only interacts with RAR-alpha and ignores two other receptors, RAR-beta and RAR-gamma, so it should minimize potential side effects.
It took 5 years to bring this drug to market
After testing in a simulated environment, Norman and Georg moved on to preclinical testing in mice. Their report at the conference showed that when mice were given YCT529 for 4 weeks, their sperm count was significantly reduced, and achieved a 99% contraceptive effectiveness in the mating test.
The researchers monitored the weight, appetite and overall activity of these mice and found no obvious side effects – although the rats were of course unable to report side effects such as headaches. or mood swings.
More important is the ability to prevent pregnancy temporarily, meaning it is reversible. Just 4-6 weeks after stopping the drug, the mice were able to reproduce normally again. Professor Georg said her research team has now received funding from the US National Institutes of Health and the Men’s Contraceptive Initiative.
They are also working with a company called YourChoice Therapeutics to begin human trials of YCT529 in Q3 or Q4 2022.
“I am optimistic that this therapy will progress quickly“, Professor Georg said. She predicts trials with YCT529 will be completed in a few years. At the latest, people will see a male contraceptive on the market.
Before that milestone, there is one question we need to address: Do women trust men when they use drugs? It’s perfectly possible for a guy to tell his partner that he’s been on the Pill, but actually isn’t.
But recent surveys show that most women will trust their partners, and a large number of men say they would be willing to take birth control pills on behalf of women.
Refer to Sciencealert