Two Day Magazine

New Innovations for Men Are on the Way!

We all know there are plenty of types of birth control out there. Take your pick. Condoms, birth control pills, IUDs, diaphragms, spermicides, abstinence...the list goes on and on. As the times change, so do people’s needs and desires for how to balance their sex lives with their work, family and friends. Here are some of the new ideas for bringing men more into the forefront with these possible birth control products in the coming years.

Dry Orgasm Pill: Since the 1950s, doctors have been studying certain medications given to patients with schizophrenia and high blood pressure that can make males sterile. In 2006, these doctors realized that these medications freeze the muscle contractions responsible for pushing sperm through the male’s reproductive tract. The male still achieves orgasm, but without the sperm. Don’t get too excited, though, this product is still under development and is years away from being marketable.

Phthalates: While it may seem that a chemical added to plastic to make it more flexible isn’t the most promising idea for a male birth control method, think again. Researchers at The Population Council are working on how to make this negative into a positive. Because phthalates can lower sperm count and change levels of testosterone, they may hold the key to the future of men’s birth control methods, making their properties front runners for the future of male contraceptives.

Enzyme Inhibitor (Glycoprotein mimic): This drug would make sperm functionally infertile, but it would not affect the sperm’s ability to produce new sperm or the ability to swim. Tests show that it does prevent sperm from recognizing and binding to an egg, which led to a 92% effective contraception rate when tested in rats. This drug would not disrupt a man’s hormone levels or interfere with his libido, either.

Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance (RISUG): Just one injection into the vas deferens can prevent pregnancy in two ways. It partially blocks the tube which leads the testes to the urethra, while disrupting any sperm passing through. A trial that doctors and researchers ran in 1990 with implanting RISUG into male volunteers have seen no side effects or problems since. The Phase II volunteers have been using RISUG for ten years, and no pregnancies occurred during the 1-3 years of the study. The procedure is out-patient, takes only 15 minutes, and is the fastest of all male contraceptives, as it becomes effective after 10 days. (Even a vasectomy can take 3 months to become fully effective.)

Adjudin: The Population Council has been focusing on the development of this product, which is a chemical that prevents sperm from maturing, thereby preventing them from fertilizing a female’s eggs. This is still about ten years in the future, but they believe it may come in the form of an implant or patch, not a pill.