Male Birth Control Pill That’s 99% Successful For Mice To Enter Clinical Trials

24 Mar 2022 by Mikelle Leow

Photo 37687671 © Katarzyna Bialasiewicz | Dreamstime.com

Six decades after the first female birth control pill was approved, scientists are well on their way to introducing a version for men, having found its near-perfect efficacy with mice. The oral male contraceptive is expected to enter human clinical testing before the end of this year.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota shared on Wednesday that the contraceptive has been 99% effective in mice without any noticeable side effects, AFP reports. The substance relies on vitamin A instead of hormones, which are known to cause weight gain and lower libido as well as the presence of “good” cholesterol, giving rise to health risks like heart disease.

The reason it’s taken so long for an oral male contraceptive to be ready is that scientists cannot approach its development the same way they’ve been looking at the female pill. Whereas the female contraceptive uses hormones to impede the menstrual cycle, targeting the male sex hormone testosterone could lead to the aforementioned side effects.

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That’s why researchers are setting their sights on a non-hormonal solution based on vitamin A. As AFP notes, the vitamin is converted into various forms when it enters the body. Among those components is retinoic acid, one of the nutrients catalyzing fertility.

The scientists, led by graduate student Md Abdullah Al Noman, were pleased to find out that the consumption of GPHR-529, as the treatment is called, dramatically reduced semen in mice over a period of four weeks, making the subjects sterile. Their virility resumed four to six weeks after contraception was withheld.

Noman cited “multiple studies” suggesting that men have been keen to share the responsibility of staving off pregnancies. A pill would bring one additional solution on top of the extremely limited options of condoms or vasectomies.