Reproduction

New Birth Control Pill for Men

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have explained how close we are to having a male birth control pill. They made the presentation at The 93rd Annual Meeting & Expo of the Endocrine Society in Boston, Massachusetts. They showed that "low doses of an anti vitamin A pill would stop sperm production in its tracks, with no apparent side effects." Previous research has shown that male hormone-based birth control drugs usually result in a dramatic decrease in sex drive, something which was always a deal breaker. However, thats not the case with this new tablet. And there's no long term effects on fertility as research on mice has shown that normal fertility is restored soon after the drug was stopped.

Scientists have known for almost a century that if an animal doesn't get vitamin A, it causes male sterility. However its not as simple as just don't eat anything with vitamin A. They needed to work out how to block the complex mechanism of it being absorbed. The Columbia trials involved giving very low doses to mice of a compound that interferes with retinoic acid receptors (RARs). Its complex structure includes metabolites of dietary vitamin A. The then saw that this chemical caused sterility in male mice. The researchers also found that when the drug was stopped,  sperm production would resume with no apparent side effects and normal fertility was restored soon afterwards.

So far the trials have only been conducted on mice, however a long term trial is now being planned for humans. This does however raise the worry for women about having to trust the man to remember to take the pill. So this solution may be marketed to guys who don't trust the women. Or maybe we can all take pills and be happy together.

Link to Endocrine Society Annual Meeting