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Medicine Biotech

Two New Male Birth Control Chemicals In Advanced Stages 369

Posted by samzenpus from the man-pills dept.
BarbaraHudson writes Researchers at the University of Kansas and Harvard are working to give men more choices for avoiding unwanted pregnancies. From the article: "H2-gamendazole keeps sperm from maturing. The unfinished sperm fragments are then reabsorbed into the testis, never ending up in the semen. 'If there's no sperm, the egg's not going to get fertilized,' says Joseph Tash, a reproductive biologist at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Almost two years ago, the FDA reviewed the compound, and now the agency wants Tash to investigate if the compound remains in the semen and whether that would harm a woman if it ends up in the vagina. Jay Bradner, working with other anti-cancer researchers at Harvard, discovered that the JQ1 molecule blocked a bromodomain in cancer cells, causing them to forget how to be cancer. One side effect is that JQ1 also obstructed a testicle-specific bromodomain called BRDT, making the sex cells that would otherwise produce sperm non-functional — mice treated with JQ1 can hump with abandon yet generate zero mouselings. Researchers are looking for a version of the molecule that works on the testicle protein only, to avoid any weird side effects."
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Two New Male Birth Control Chemicals In Advanced Stages More

Two New Male Birth Control Chemicals In Advanced Stages

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  • Time for men's liberation (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AmiMoJo ( 196126 ) * on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:06PM (#49068331) Homepage Journal

    It would be awesome if this could be part of a men's liberation movement, like how women were liberated in the 60s when the pill became available. Not just contraception, a change in the way men look at themselves.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by penguinoid ( 724646 )

      Time for men's liberation

      Not yet! They accidentally found a cure for cancer, so they have to get rid of the cure for cancer before they'll sell this to you.

    • Right.

      What if you're one of those people who has gone around the track long enough to understand that sex divorced from reproduction is meaningless, who always wanted to have that family that everyone seems to want to be "liberated" from taking responsibility for?

      Because, honestly, that's how I feel, and I've quite literally given up on women, and sex.

      Reproductive sex isn't boring, like something out of a Puritan movie. It's just as nasty and wild and passionate and kinky as it always was. But, it's overl

      • I agree with you; I do want to take semi-issue with one bit, however:

        Now that I realize I'd have an easier time finding a unicorn in this culture than a woman who will truly commit to creating a family, I find it hard to find reasons not to sit and grow moss.

        Ah, but you forget: There is the late thirty-something childless single woman, the ones who woke up one morning to realize that the ovular inventory is beginning to run a bit low. She then realizes that the men aren't hitting on her as much - most guys her age are married, gay, or losers at this point, and the younger guys are too busy chasing the younger babes around, where there's a closer-matched set of interests. The biological clock w

      • Apparently, only one out of every seven women never has children, so that's pretty good odds for you.

        Things are changing, but for now, women bear the brunt of child rearing expectations. That means we are more likely to be expected to make career and life sacrifices in order to have a family. Managers will expect women with children to take off more time for things like doctor's appointments and will (perhaps unwittingly) take that into consideration when doling out promotions etc. Many women are more

      • Some of us have absolutely no desire to reproduce. I got the snip over 10 years ago (im 36 now). Couldn't be happier. GF wants no children either..

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Fwipp ( 1473271 )
        Oh my god, no, keep your gross ass out of the LGBT community.

      • What if you're one of those people who has gone around the track long enough to understand that sex divorced from reproduction is meaningless

        Ultimately everything is meaningless. Sex is meaningless, having a family is meaningless. Continuing to breath and thereby extending one's life is meaningless. Eating nice food is meaningless.

        But to many people living life and enjoying it feels worth doing. In that sense having non reproductive has as much or as little meaning as anything else.

        who always wanted to hav

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Think of the children. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:07PM (#49068343)

    This is a murder of potentially trillions of human beings and as such an obvious affront to god!

    • This needs to be modded insightful. I can only imagine how the Catholic Church will respond to a male birth control solution.

    • Re:Think of the children. (Score:4, Funny)

      by ColdWetDog ( 752185 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @04:17PM (#49068781) Homepage

      "Every sperm is sacred .... "

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by PPH ( 736903 )

        You forgot the link [youtube.com].

    • This is a murder of potentially trillions of human beings and as such an obvious affront to god!

      Har har.

      Yet, you will be replaced by people who don't use it.

  • Curing cancer (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:11PM (#49068377)

    TFA: [...] discovered that the JQ1 molecule blocked a bromodomain in cancer cells, causing them to forget how to be cancer. [...] Researchers are looking for a version of the molecule that works on the testicle protein only, to avoid any weird side effects

    Since when slowing down cancer is a "weird side effect"? :D

  • This type of preventative would be awesome (Score:5, Insightful)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:12PM (#49068383)
    This could really help men everywhere, there are a ton of options for women but very few for men. I can only hope when the day comes that it's viewed as a positive direction from all rights groups. Doubtful, but one can dream.

  • Universal Zero Tolerance of Side Effects (Score:4, Funny)

    by EmagGeek ( 574360 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:13PM (#49068393) Journal

    "anti-cancer researchers at Harvard, discovered that the JQ1 molecule blocked a bromodomain in cancer cells, causing them to forget how to be cancer."

    "Researchers are looking for a version of the molecule that works on the testicle protein only, to avoid any weird side effects."

    Umm... can I please have the side-effects, if the side effects are, you know, NOT GETTING CANCER?

  • Why don't all you guys out there try it first. In the meantime time I may just go for the vasectomy.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by afidel ( 530433 )

      Vasectomies have potentially serious side effects, both in the short term, and in the long term (hormone issues), plus as others have pointed out they're more or less permanent (reversals are expensive and nowhere near 100% successful) .

      • Uh, yeah, gonna need some proof for those claims of side effects. Contrary to what you express, vasectomies are fairly safe and effective. http://theturekclinic.com/serv... [theturekclinic.com] And as it stands, the female pill has a number of nasty potential side effects, far beyond anything a vasectomy could do.

  • Sad For My Gender (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Jason Levine ( 196982 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @03:38PM (#49068531) Homepage

    The number of responses here along the lines of "women always trick men into marriage by getting pregnant" or "birth control is a woman's responsibility" make me sad for my gender. I can't be the only man on Slashdot who 1) respects women (my wife and I both manage our portions of birth control together - I would never suggest that's HER job and not for me to be bothered with), 2) sees fatherhood as a positive outcome - not something that is only entered into via trickery, and 3) would like to see new birth control methods available on the market (whether or not this one would work for my wife and I aside, the more options the better). Can I?

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @04:09PM (#49068731)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Begemot ( 38841 )

      This is probably the most useless response here, but I had to say it - I completely agree with you.

    • Re:Sad For My Gender (Score:5, Insightful)

      by eepok ( 545733 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @04:25PM (#49068857) Homepage

      People comment based on experiences or the stories of others.

      Women have, historically, had the socially-supported option of getting pregnant instead of being old and single or instead of entering the workforce. In fact, entering the workforce is still a relatively new concept for women and still not universal throughout the world. Men still have the socially-enforced expectation of tying one's finances to the mother of his children regardless of the involvement of those men in the lives of the children or the mother. This is a genuine hobbling of the uninvolved man's life post impregnation and thus fear of a coerced pregnancy is a significant fear amongst men. As a result, SOME men are suspicious of women when it comes to birth control.

      Thus, you shouldn't be surprised by pessimistic online comments reading as "Women trick men into marriage by getting pregnant".

      But it does not define the entirety of the population. It MAY describe a part of an aging population of experiences (the younger generation doesn't seem too keen on popping babies out), but by no means defines an entire community.

      You can see such patterns of experiences -> comments by taking a look at your own. Your experience with your wife (cooperative birth control expectations, a happy outlook on parenthood, etc.) will bias you towards believing that women have not/do not use pregnancy as a investment-- but it would also suggest that you're fairly far-removed from the lives your male peers if you cannot understand their fears.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by idji ( 984038 )
      I am the father of 3 beautiful daughters from my wonderful wife, and I see it as my responsibility to manage birth control. I don't like my wife using the pill as it effects her emotionally and physically too much each cycle - she hasn't touched the pill in 14 years. And she loves it that I take initiative here.
      I am not sad for my gender, i am just sad for women who never meet a man who would respect her.
    • You are not the only man on /. who respects women, but that is not the issue. It is possible to 1) respect woman and 2) not want to have childern 3) welcome new birth control methods.

      Typically my ex GFs and I used a condom until we trusted each other enough to go for another contraceptive, which typically was The Pill. If she would have objected to this, for whatever reason, I would have been happy to keep using condoms. No sweat. Respect. Responsability, no problem. On the other hand, "forgetting" to take

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by epyT-R ( 613989 )

      1. respect is earned, usually by demonstration of responsibility and good judgment. The fact the law allows women to have babies and then use the state to go after 'your gender' for bailouts is unbelievably hypocritical and disrespectful, especially when done under the banner of 'equality.'

      2. fatherhood CAN be a positive outcome, but not when it's foisted on unwilling men by politicians with agendas and women who know they can squeeze a paycheck out of him. This is NOT an occasional event. It's what built

    • but I know lots and lots of guys who's girlfriend somehow became pregnant while on a pill that's 99.9% effective.

      As for fatherhood: 40 years of declining wages have made fatherhood a tough sell. I grew up around and still know a pretty rough crowd. If you don't make much money and probably never will fatherhood doesn't end well. It's why birth rates in Japan keep falling. Nobody's paying us enough to raise a family...

    • The number of responses here along the lines of "women always trick men into marriage by getting pregnant"

      "Always"? Which comments would those be? In any case, some men are tricked into being fathers, or think they are fathers. The chances of that happening are small, but the consequences (the next 20 years of your life) are large.

      I can't be the only man on Slashdot who 1) respects women

      /rollseyes

      How about respecting people?

      "birth control is a woman's responsibility"

      Women have a plethora of BC options

  • Boon to rapists? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MouseTheLuckyDog ( 2752443 ) on Monday February 16, 2015 @04:20PM (#49068815)

    If the sperm is destroyed, is there anything left that contains DNA in the semen?

    If not that this could be a big boon to rapists who no longer have to worry about leaving their DNA behind.

  • While it is nice to see continued research along these avenues, I feel that methodology that require us to alter internal, chemical bodily functions via some sort are going to have pretty considerable side effects. Even after more than a half-century of research, we've still not been able to create female chemical/hormonal birth control that doesn't have significant side effects and trade offs. While many women put up with the side effects, which can range from lack of libido, depression, weight gain, ac

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