If today’s woman is ready to walk with her man, sharing his social responsibilties, then our 21st century man too, is not going to stay behind. MEN could soon be taking a male contraceptive drug that will shift the burden of preventing unwanted pregnancy from women to men. This medical breakthrough, set to revolutionise family planning has been reported in a study carried out by the ANZAC Research Institute, Australia. Researchers have discovered a hormone that blocks sperm production, in much the same way as the female contraceptive pill prevents ovulation.
Scientists have known it was possible to suppress the production of sperm with the hormone androgen or a combination of androgen and progestagen. The long-term effects of taking hormones in men were less clear, however. The study has found that men who used the androgen therapy regained sperm output in a predictable fashion after ceasing treatment.
Lead researcher and fertility expert Dr Peter Lui said if the male contraceptive drug were approved for public use, it could be available in five years. "If you talk to your average Australian male or female in an established relationship, they'll tell you that birth control should be a shared responsibility," Dr Lui said. "But women have been bearing the burden of this responsibility for too long and it's not fair." The study examined 1500 men between 1990 and 2005 and was made in conjunction with the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. In the studies, sperm output was monitored every month until it had completely recovered. The tests showed that by injecting synthetic testosterone into a man's body, hormone signals between the brain and the testes shut down to ultimately switch off sperm production. Researchers monitored the men's sperm count after they stopped the injections and found that the average time it took for them to regain their full fertility was three to four months.
The male contraceptive can only be widely used if men can be assured that once they stop taking it, their sperm counts will return to normal. The trials have shown that it is possible to reduce the male sperm count to “infertile” levels by using hormone treatments, either in the form of pills, implants, or both. Two trials are in progress, one in China and one in Europe, to prove that the technology works and is safe. But the new study aimed to show that the effects were reversible. The conclusion was that, in the studies examined, sperm counts returned to a level of 20 million per milliliter — a fertile level — in three to four months .Older men, those of Asian origin, those who had higher sperm counts to start with, and those who took shorter-acting treatments, recovered fertility more quickly. But the trials show that all men will recover fertility — if they had it to start with — if they are prepared to wait long enough.
"Our data provide strong assurance that the previously described efficacy of hormonal male contraceptives is coupled with highly predictable recovery to semen characteristics that are compatible with fertility," says Dr Liu. "These findings thereby increase the promise of new contraceptive drugs allowing men to share more fairly the satisfaction and burden of family planning."
Dr Lui said the male contraceptive drug was more effective than traditional male birth control, such as condoms and vasectomy, because it was reversible and more reliable. Testing of dosage formulation is still under way, but Dr Lui said the contraceptive drug could be taken in the form of a testosterone injection or implant, accompanied by an oral dose of progesterone - a female hormone. The results of Dr Lui's study, released yesterday were published in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet.
