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Biotech Medicine

Male Birth Control Gel Continues to Show Promise (gizmodo.com) 152

Gizmodo reports there's been progress on a male birth-control gel "being developed with the help of several organizations, including the U.S. government's National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the larger NIH." It's now being tested in a larger-scale Phase IIB trial, which involves around 400 couples. [Five milliliters of gel — about a teaspon — is applied to each shoulder blade once a day, reports NBC News.] That trial is still ongoing, but researchers have already begun to pore through some of the available data, which has provided encouraging results. In the summer of 2022, for instance, Diana Blithe, chief of the NICHD's Contraceptive Development Program, reported that the NES/T gel's efficacy rate so far appeared to be on par or even better than contraceptive hormonal options for women...

The findings are still preliminary, and it will take more time for the full Phase II data to be collected and analyzed. But Blithe and her team have been encouraged by everything they've seen to date. In the team's early assessments, the gel appears to be both effective and safe, with minimal side effects for men taking it... Blithe and her colleagues are set to meet with the FDA next year about the steps needed to begin a larger Phase III trial and are still seeking a commercial partner to help bring the NES/T gel to the market.

Initial findings also showed that the contraceptive worked faster than expected, Blithe said, according to NBC News. They add that at least three other companies are also working on male birth control: Also at the Boston conference on Sunday, YourChoice Therapeutics said a very small trial in the U.K. — just 16 men — showed that its nonhormonal pill, YCT-529, was safe and free of side effects. The San Francisco company's nonhormonal pill works by blocking the vitamin A receptor important for male fertility.YourChoice is planning a larger trial, according to CEO Akash Bakshi.
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Male Birth Control Gel Continues to Show Promise

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  • Yay! (Score:4, Funny)

    by LondoMollari ( 172563 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @06:42PM (#64518521) Homepage

    Now when do we get the cancer revelations?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

      First problem is probably not going to be cancer, but collapse in testosterone generation. It's a known side effect of TRT, and this thing is basically a double whammy of that. Pseudo female pregnancy hormone plus testosterone. Expect normal testosterone generation to cease within a couple of years.

      And then we get to figure out what cancers facsimile pregnancy hormone generates in a male body. Though I'd be first much more weary of the kind of shit that we get from hormonal birth control in women, such as p

      • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

        by sdinfoserv ( 1793266 )
        This is not just from therapy. Western male testosterone levels have been decreasing for over 20 years https://www.urologytimes.com/v... [urologytimes.com]
        At the current rate, western males will be unable to reproduce in a generation.
        • by Luckyo ( 1726890 )

          You do not understand the subject being discussed. TRT is a treatment option for the malady you're talking about. It's not the cause of it. TRT is also a treatment for many other things, and a prophylaxis for ageing men who want to have an easier time staying in shape.

          The problem with it is that it effectively terminates natural testosterone production in short order, permanently. Regardless if patient has normal for the age, or lowered testosterone levels.

        • by unrtst ( 777550 )

          At the current rate, western males will be unable to reproduce in a generation.

          See also: XKCD - Extrapolation : https://xkcd.com/605/ [xkcd.com]

        • And I think it has been going on longer than that, I remember somewhere around 78 some alarming news that sperm counts were dropping. No surprise, really: microplastics everywhere, bad food, stress, not enough sleep.
    • by vlad30 ( 44644 )
      Doesn't solve the STD issue so the females should still request a condom. Next the wrong type of male is breeding too much those should probably be sterilised permanently.

      And for those who want a guarantee that they wont leave unwanted children on a one night stand vasectomies can be reversible not always but a new technique were they clam the tube instead of cutting it makes it a lot easier Clip vasectomy, as the name implies, uses a small clip (about half the size of a staple) to clip the vas deferens o

      • Re:Yay! (Score:5, Informative)

        by YetAnotherDrew ( 664604 ) on Monday June 03, 2024 @12:03AM (#64518981)

        Doesn't solve the STD issue so the females should still request a condom

        As should any males involved. And others.

      • There is PreP and DoxyPEP for that. My last 500 partners have been bb.

        • by piojo ( 995934 )

          There is PreP and DoxyPEP for that. My last 500 partners have been bb.

          You're obviously referring to anal--does that make gonorrhea, chlamydia, mycoplasma, and syphilis less likely, or do those prophylactics help? Or does everyone in your community really do frequent testing and get prompt treatment?

        • by vlad30 ( 44644 )

          There is PreP and DoxyPEP for that. My last 500 partners have been bb.

          I'm getting old I remember when being on slashdot meant you were

          1) single i.e. without a girlfriend I guess politically correct would be without a partner

          2) the closest a slashdotter came to sex was their porn collection

          3) I had to lookup what the acronyms were, I'm glad I'm married and don't have to deal with that

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      Sir, you have dick cancer. But it's ok because you're not using it.
  • by VampireByte ( 447578 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @06:45PM (#64518531) Homepage

    I think I understand how it works. You can't reach your shoulder blades, so you ask your partner to apply the gel to your should blades. She sees your hairy back, screams, and leaves you. Thus, birth control success.

    • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      I'm sure it likely has to do with not wanting to introduce male birth control which would allow a single male to go around fucking women without protection, for fear of spreading disease.

      Not sure why they didn't consider those ethical implications with female birth control.

      Seems a bit sexist, honestly.

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by penguinoid ( 724646 )

        Women are likelier to get pregnant than men, so traditionally have more interest in not getting pregnant. Now that men can get paternity tested and pay child support, men have increased interest in not getting a woman pregnant. Additionally, women are infertile for most of the month, so artificially inducing that was fairly simple. Men have a simple surgical method to become infertile, though that tends to be permanent.

        • Additionally, women are infertile for most of the month,
          No they are not.
          Even if you are nitpicking with longevity of some men's sperms.
          A woman is fertile 4 or 5 days in a month.

          But long living sperms of men makes that window bigger.

          But not more than half a month. Perhaps 10 days.

          Or a woman has a rare double hedged egg inn a short day gap ... which can happen. Especially if she is in love and has a strong desire fir a child.

          • That is a very long winded way of saying 20 really is most of the month but not as "most" as some people think.

      • by flink ( 18449 )

        When evaluating a new drug for side effects, we compare the side effects of the drug vs the consequences of not using it. For women the consequences are pregnancy, which is a serious medical condition in and of itself, so some serious potential side effects are acceptable. Men don't get pregnant, so the bar for rejecting a treatment due to side effects is much lower.

        It's part of that "first, do no harm" thing.

      • Because this is birth control, not STD Protection.
        You can have one without the other if you choose your partners well enough.

    • by skegg ( 666571 )

      You made me laugh out loud ... thank you !!

    • It they are smart the different brands will differentiate themselves with the colour that the gel will dye the skin it is applied to, The more uniform and deeper the colour the better the evidence that it has been assiduously applied.

    • For medicine that absorbs transdermally, you really don't want that on someone else's hands.

  • by henrik stigell ( 6146516 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @07:18PM (#64518581) Homepage

    Male birth control is like new revolutionary battery types. There are always new projects promising male birth control/much better batteries going on, but they never materializes (batteries improves incrementally over time). Or fusion. Always ten years away!

    • This is a big f****** deal. Also the joke about it being 10 years away is because men's dicks stop working after a certain amount of time.

      The reason it's taking so long for male birth control is because back when female birth control was developed we actively experimented on women in frankly unsafe conditions. If you were being charitable the argument could be made that the risk of pregnancy was so high that it was well worth the risk from the birth control. And if you're being more realistic 70 some od
      • by transwarp ( 900569 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @08:05PM (#64518653)
        Hormonal birth control was famously invented by a doctor trying to increase fertility. When their clients had lower than expected fertility levels instead, they realized they'd discovered the opposite.

        The dosages that were tested weren't what anyone would use today, but the participants to try it because they were desperate to have children.
        • The "Dosage" is actually how Homeopathy works. Or is supposed to work, lets the flame war of uneducated haters: BEGIN!

      • This is a big f****** deal. Also the joke about it being 10 years away is because men's dicks stop working after a certain amount of time. The reason it's taking so long for male birth control is because back when female birth control was developed we actively experimented on women in frankly unsafe conditions. If you were being charitable the argument could be made that the risk of pregnancy was so high that it was well worth the risk from the birth control. And if you're being more realistic 70 some odd years ago women weren't really considered full citizens and it would have been a lot more acceptable to take risks with them... Either way the high risk of lawsuits if any men are rendered sterile means a hell of a lot more effort is being put into safety for male birth control so it's taking longer. But the fact that this is in phase 2 large trials means it is very likely not far off from being something you can just go and get a prescription for. And it's going to have massive political implications because let's face it there is a significant number of people trying to take birth control away from women and they're not going to get very far doing that to men.

        Dude...chill with the insincere performative feminism bullshit. The reason male birth control took so long is because it's a fucking difficult problem to solve. Women are fertile a few days a week, men are fertile 24/7. If women could conceive every day, it would have been just as hard of a problem to solve.

        Every solution, including this one, lowers your testosterone level....and if you weren't aware, that's bad....really, really bad. Everything good in life for man is gotten through testosterone...h

        • What?

          There are 2 problems here, unrelated.

          Don't want any kids? Vasectomies work great.

          Low testosterone? They have drugs for that.

          Don't need this weird thing and synthetic adding to blah blah blah. These are solved problems and legal.

          • Low testosterone? They have drugs for that.

            Yeah, but testosterone is like cocaine. A little is good...a lot is REALLY good. :). (both also lead to heart attacks when abused too). Am I really going to do to this?...nah...not a huge fan of cancer...

            ...but I can see a whole generation wanting to abuse this...."oh no, I wasn't doping for the race, I just am a good feminist, great at getting laid, and bad at measuring how much 10mL is"

          • can be a temporary thing you know....

            Seriously, do you think before you write?
            • The irony of Mr "The 1% are trying to eat us!!!!!" in every post asking someone else to think before they write.

              Hmm let's see what temporary options exist for pregnancy avoidance?

              Hmmmm..

              Uuuhh....
              Nope! Can't' think of anything! We should smear 2 teaspoons of female hormones on our backs every day instead of wearing condoms,, her using any of the 36 options available to women, then having kids when ready and then ending all risk entirely.

              Weird how there are literally dozens of temporary options less shitty t

          • Don't want any kids? Vasectomies work great.

            Vasectomies are often a permanent solution to a potentially short-term problem. I don't want kids now, but I may want them in the future. The success rate of reversing a vasectomy is far less than what the average person believes and the longer it's been since the vasectomy was performed, the lower the chances of successfully reversing it.

            • Reverse? Fuck no. I made sure my doctor was using a technique that was 100% fail safe and essentially impossible to reverse. I had all the kids I planned on. The girls I fucked after that who wanted kids? "Sorry, no, that is physically impossible", end of story. Fucked my way through several clock tickers until I found one who wasn't baby crazy.

              Have your kids early. Before that use condoms or whatever else. When you're done with kids, get snipped and fuck away. There are countless options that are

        • by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @09:09PM (#64518799)
          What does pointing out the realities of medicine from 75 years ago have to do with *anything*. Or do you think women in the 50s were regarded the same as women in 2024?

          It's not about it being difficult, we've done *way* harder shit than male birth control. If you bothered to look into it you'd know that a) lawsuits weren't really a thing in the 50s (I mean fuck Tuskagee hadn't even happened yet) and b) it was socially acceptable to do high risk experiments on people right up to the early to mid 90s.

          Also the 1st round of trials had no impact whatsoever on sex life. Or really anything for that matter. The side effects were way, *way* less than what female birth control has, which can be pretty awful actually.

          You're turning your back on history. I suspect it's because history doesn't line up with some of your political beliefs.
          • It's not about it being difficult, we've done *way* harder shit than male birth control.

            Not that often!! How many drugs are taken by healthy people daily? Think about it. Female birth control is 1000x easier because you only have to increase hormones at specific points at her cycle....and the hormones just trick the body into thinking it's pregnant, not completely shutting down her egg production. For men, you're fertile 24/7 until your reproductive organs shut down completely in what...your 70s? 80s? This is a drug that has to be active 24/7 and not have major side effects...and taken by

            • oh, you took birth control and knocked up your girlfriend?...that a HUGE deal and very bad press for the drug maker

              Even worse... you took it and partially knocked up your girlfriend, i.e. created a baby that's not growing very well. If you're lucky, the result will be a miscarriage, which is what normally happens to babies who don't developing properly. In that case, you did prevent the pregnancy, sort of, but subjected your girlfriend to quite a bit of misery. If you're not lucky, it will be born with severe deformities. Now the drugmaker hasn't just failed to prevent a pregnancy, they've doomed a child to a painfu

        • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          Everything good in life for man is gotten through testosterone...high testosterone makes you more motivated at work, it makes you stronger. It makes you leaner. It makes you heal faster and younger in every way (except the hair loss). Once your testosterone levels go down, you get fat, weak, depressed, and lose motivation.

          You have it backwards. Testosterone is what leads you to accepting the exploitation of 60 hour weeks and the race to the bottom. It's what messes with your mental health and makes you easier to manipulate with sex.

          If you need that hormone to be a decent bloke, you need help. 60 year olds, and for that matter women, are not "useless" unless you have a very, very screwed up idea of what a person's worth is.

          • Everything good in life for man is gotten through testosterone...high testosterone makes you more motivated at work, it makes you stronger. It makes you leaner. It makes you heal faster and younger in every way (except the hair loss). Once your testosterone levels go down, you get fat, weak, depressed, and lose motivation.

            You have it backwards. Testosterone is what leads you to accepting the exploitation of 60 hour weeks and the race to the bottom. It's what messes with your mental health and makes you easier to manipulate with sex.

            If you need that hormone to be a decent bloke, you need help. 60 year olds, and for that matter women, are not "useless" unless you have a very, very screwed up idea of what a person's worth is.

            Fair arguments, but if you do anything physical...testosterone is your friend. I have young kids. It fuels me to be active and involved and play with them and not hurt afterwards. Also, it's really unfair to blame testosterone for bad behavior any more than blaming alcohol or caffeine. Testosterone leads to motivation...either for a fireman to charge into a burning building to save a small child or a tech worker to become very goal-oriented and being overworked. It can be good or bad. It does increase

      • Cool story, bro.

  • Nestorone (Score:5, Interesting)

    by markdavis ( 642305 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @07:33PM (#64518605)

    >"the gel appears to be both effective and safe, with minimal side effects for men taking it."

    More data, please. I am all for more male contraception options, but this seems a bit strange (including having to smear 10ml of gel on acne-prone areas... 10ml is a LOT of gel).

    Article: "contains testosterone and a synthetic hormone called Nestorone that reduces sperm production"
    Plus it takes over 12 weeks to be effective (but even then, in only 86% of men).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

    "SGA is a progestin, or a synthetic progestogen" "SGA has antigonadotropic effects and functional antiestrogenic effects via its progestogenic activity similarly to other progestogens"

    Really, we are going to give men a female hormone? And then supplement with additional testosterone? What could possible go wrong here?

    • That's literally what we're doing here. And as for side effects knocking a girl up is one hell of a side effect.
    • Wait till you find out the studies that have been interfered with by foreign adversaries in an attempt to cause a sterility incident.

    • That YCT-529 pill looked a bit more promising, though I'd be cautious about anything blocking vitamin receptors.

      In any case fertility rates are down in most Western countries, and people are having less sex. Is there really a market for this stuff? Pressing X to doubt.

      • >"That YCT-529 pill looked a bit more promising, though I'd be cautious about anything blocking vitamin receptors."

        My thoughts as well. It is non-hormonal, which is good (especially when it isn't giving a FEMALE hormone to a male, like that first one they are talking about). But YCT-529 "blocks vitamin A receptors", that certainly doesn't sound like it is without serious side effects (confirmed by reading some articles).

        >"In any case fertility rates are down in most Western countries, and people are

      • That YCT-529 pill looked a bit more promising, though I'd be cautious about anything blocking vitamin receptors.

        In any case fertility rates are down in most Western countries, and people are having less sex. Is there really a market for this stuff? Pressing X to doubt.

        ...not biology. Also, they're even worse in Eastern Countries the worst cases are Korea, Japan, and China...and it's all economics, not biology. Treat people like shit and make it expensive and difficult to raise children and what do you know?....people stop having kids. I mean for fuck's sake, everyone is pressuring everyone to get into elite schools and get advanced degrees and not even enter the fucking job market until their late 20s...and then once you're ready to have kids, you can't afford a house

        • Ehh maybe. People used to have families of 3+ kids when there was no running water and no electricity. Sharecroppers had kids for crying out loud. The economic argument doesn't make sense on its own.

    • Wow, agree not great with those details. 12 weeks of usage and then I assume you have to go get tested probably a couple times to make sure you are in fact not in that 14% and pray it doesn't wear off?

      I'm a man so I get it that condoms are less than ideal but the alternative has to be at least as reliable to be viable.

    • by CAIMLAS ( 41445 )

      That's insane.

      I'm going to bet that it likely also has the impact of reducing natural testosterone production and shrinking gonads, then. That can be permanent.

      • >"I'm going to bet that it likely also has the impact of reducing natural testosterone production and shrinking gonads, then. That can be permanent."

        Absolutely. And for those who might think it is the same thing for women, it isn't. I do believe that female hormonal birth control has its own problems, but it is just giving what is already present in the body, just tricking the reproductive system into thinking it is already pregnant. I believe there is also very little risk of sterility. It starts wo

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The 86% effective and 12 week start up time are no big deals. Like any contraception, you don't want to use just one method in isolation, because none of them are 100% effective. It sounds like even at this early stage it significantly improves the odds of not getting pregnant, and they can probably find a better delivery mechanism.

  • Just another 20 years away.
    Also like fusion energy, they've been promising success since the 1970s. I suppose stopping 100M sperm is much harder than stopping one ovum.

  • No risk of: cancer, pregnancy, weird side effects like growing boobs from a female hormone, reduced testosterone or anything else.

    Have your kids, get snipped, then fuck like a crazed rabbit until your dick falls off.

    • by PPH ( 736903 )

      Works great after you've had your kids and the wife wants off the birth control pill. Not so great for younger guys who might want a family in the future. Both vasectomies and the male birth control pill/gel/whatever suffer from a trust problem with this latter group of men. But then that's a problem with women's birth control pills too.

      • There are literally dozens of options available for temporary birth control. Many of them do not involve anyone taking hormones that fuck up anyone or require particularly high levels of trust. The easiest is condoms. Want to raw dog? IUD.

        Smearing gel on your back every day full of female hormones then mixing in synthetic male hormone to counter it? Good luck, nothing will go wrong.

        • The more effective IUDs do Contain hormones effigy can fuck you up. Not to mention that putting them can fuck you up and even the non hormonal ones can have nasty side effects.

          If you want to raw dog, you could take the hit for it.

          • The risk of IUD use are lower than a man taking female hormones every day. Men should not have boobs.

            And if you disagree with IUDs that's ok, I won't argue that point but there are still many other methods available that work and don't involve growing boobs.

            • Duck, weave, duck weave.

              You seem constitutionally incapable of admitting when you have made a factual error. Your claim about IUDs was simply wrong. Naturally instead of admitting you got the facts wrong, you smoothly move to claiming that it doesn't matter. Or that men's medical problems are more important. Women aren't meant to have continual cramps, acne, bleeding between periods and and massive mood swings, all side effects, and not particularly rare ones.

              Though it doesn't surprise me a whole lot that y

              • If I made a factual error I'd admit it.

                And no, it doesn't matter to the point we were discussing but if you want to "win" an internet "debate" on some trivial and irrelevant side issue then you can tell your mom you beat up the internet bully. So proud of you, son. You didn't but she won't know different. Lollipop and pat on the head.

                Now back to where we were before you tried to side track us on trivia.

                There are numerous methods of birth control that work, don't require hormones and don't risk cancer or

        • by flink ( 18449 )

          Many women can't get an IUD until after they've had a vaginal delivery.

  • No woman is going to trust that a man will consistently and correctly apply a birth control gel that she can't see or verify in any way.

    • Random hookups wouldn't (and probably shouldn't.)

      But the wife would! It is not because you are married that you want kids right now.

      That's also true of committed girlfriends.
      It can also act as double protection where both in the couple take birth control medication.

      There are plenty of cases where this would be useful!

      • Random hookups wouldn't (and probably shouldn't.)

        But the wife would! It is not because you are married that you want kids right now.

        That's also true of committed girlfriends.
        It can also act as double protection where both in the couple take birth control medication.

        There are plenty of cases where this would be useful!

        As "double protection" a woman might go with this. As sole protection I think it's very doubtful. The man may live with the consequences of pregnancy but he isn't the one getting pregnant

        • by flink ( 18449 )

          If you are with a committed partner there's also PlanB and abortions. Every couple is gonna have different opinions about risk and alternatives. This is just another tool. Some will use it some won't.

        • I think this gets in the realm where "a women" is not descriptive enough. It really depends on people, their risk tolerance, and the trust in the relationship and in the ability to correctly apply the medication.

          It also depends on what other conditions they may have. At that point it is really a discussion between the couple with input from health professionals.

    • by upuv ( 1201447 )

      Completely Agree,

      In no way would the practice of casual sex have women say OK if he says I'm on the gel.

      As for couples trying to avoid children or men specifically trying to avoid children sure. But largely if you are going to use the gel you are also likely going to use condoms at the same time. As both a contraceptive and STD mitigation strategy.

  • Don't Fuck (Score:3, Funny)

    by zenlessyank ( 748553 ) on Sunday June 02, 2024 @09:07PM (#64518797)

    Works 100% against unwanted pregnancies and STD's. For free.

    I won't comment about humans being weak as fuck and want the government and corporations fixing their own self made problems.

    • Re:Don't Fuck (Score:5, Insightful)

      by serviscope_minor ( 664417 ) on Monday June 03, 2024 @04:43AM (#64519219) Journal

      Any solution for human problems that involves wishing humans weren't human are deeply flawed.

      There are a few billion years of evolutionary pressure stacked against you. Maybe that's a bit weaker for you, but that didn't mean you are strong, merely that you have less to resist.

      Literally the only purpose of governments and corporations are to attend to the need of humans. Why do you think this particular need is special?

      • by GlennC ( 96879 )

        Literally the only purpose of governments and corporations are to attend to the need of humans.

        Unfortunately, that purpose has become secondary to making money for their owners.

        Yes, that also includes government, at least in the United States.

  • With sperm counts plummeting across the western world, I'm not sure how much longer this matters.

  • Nice try, men don’t give birth. Are they going to sell ice to an Eskimo next?

  • Because we can't trust straight guys to get vasectomies . . .
  • by cstacy ( 534252 ) on Monday June 03, 2024 @02:01AM (#64519069)

    Sex is icky!

  • by madbrain ( 11432 ) on Monday June 03, 2024 @04:03AM (#64519165) Homepage Journal

    Seems kinda off-topic.

  • If your partner has to apply it on your back?

  • Male birth control is a fundamentally losing proposition, because by far the greater incentive for birth control lays with the female.

  • Birth control gel rubbed into your shoulder blade? So you have to keep applying it, and therefore, paying for it? And you could miss it and be less effective?

    There is already a product which was developed over a decade ago and shown to be 100% effective in india: Vasalgel. It's a gel injected into the vas deferens which destroys spem's viability on the way out. It's basically like a smart vasectomy, and is reversible by just flushing out the gel. One shot, very inexpensive, and you get reversible, pain-free

  • That seems... odd. Why a gel? Why not a pill or something? And why does it matter where you smear it? The shoulder blade is such a strange spot to put it.

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