Good news ladies
Male pill won't affect fertility
Clara Pirani, Medical reporter
April 29, 2006
A CONTRACEPTIVE pill that stops men producing sperm may soon be available, after research proved the treatment does not affect men's fertility in the long term.
A review of studies involving 1500 men aged 18 to 51 found the men's sperm levels returned to normal three to four months after they stopped taking the contraceptive.
"The male contraceptive is much more reliable than condoms and I believe in time it will be shown to be as effective as the female oral contraceptive," said lead researcher Peter Liu, from the Anzac Research Institute at the University of Sydney.
Dr Liu and a team from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute examined 30 studies that involved men taking a contraceptive pill, injection or patch.
The male contraceptives use the hormone androgen, or a mixture of androgen and progestogen combinations of hormones to switch off sperm production, the same way as the female contraceptive pill suppresses ovulation.
The results, published in the medical journal The Lancet, showed the contraceptive was reversible and safe, causing no serious side effects.
"Family planning is a shared responsibility and these findings pave the way for new contraceptive drugs that allow men to share that responsibility," Dr Liu said.
Two large trials are under way in China and Europe to confirm the preliminary findings.
"We still need to work out what the best form of formulation is, whether it's a pill, patch or injection," Dr Liu said. "But it will be a better alternative than the current methods of male contraception that include condoms, withdrawal or vasectomy which are either not very reliable or easily reversible."
Clara Pirani, Medical reporter
April 29, 2006
A CONTRACEPTIVE pill that stops men producing sperm may soon be available, after research proved the treatment does not affect men's fertility in the long term.
A review of studies involving 1500 men aged 18 to 51 found the men's sperm levels returned to normal three to four months after they stopped taking the contraceptive.
"The male contraceptive is much more reliable than condoms and I believe in time it will be shown to be as effective as the female oral contraceptive," said lead researcher Peter Liu, from the Anzac Research Institute at the University of Sydney.
Dr Liu and a team from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute examined 30 studies that involved men taking a contraceptive pill, injection or patch.
The male contraceptives use the hormone androgen, or a mixture of androgen and progestogen combinations of hormones to switch off sperm production, the same way as the female contraceptive pill suppresses ovulation.
The results, published in the medical journal The Lancet, showed the contraceptive was reversible and safe, causing no serious side effects.
"Family planning is a shared responsibility and these findings pave the way for new contraceptive drugs that allow men to share that responsibility," Dr Liu said.
Two large trials are under way in China and Europe to confirm the preliminary findings.
"We still need to work out what the best form of formulation is, whether it's a pill, patch or injection," Dr Liu said. "But it will be a better alternative than the current methods of male contraception that include condoms, withdrawal or vasectomy which are either not very reliable or easily reversible."
posted by Raquita at 4/28/2006 10:58:00 AM
2 Comments:
This pill has been in development for about 20 years it seems like. Last I heard (~10 years ago) it was already prooved viable with one LARGE caveat: it lost power when subjects DRANK ALCOHOL.
Does anybody see a problem with a male contraceptive pill that doesn't work if the user drinks beer?
Hopefully they have fixed this 'little glitch'.
heh
Yeah I hope they did too. Cause this would be freakin awesome.
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