Men could soon be able to take a contraceptive that is more effective than condoms and has more easily reversible effects than a vasectomy, according to research presented this week during the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
So far, research has shown that the non-hormonal contraceptive is 99% effective in preventing pregnancy in mice.
“Scientists have been trying for decades to develop an effective male oral contraceptive, but there are still no approved pills on the market,” said Md Abdullah Al Noman, a graduate student in the lab of Gunda Georg, Ph.D., at the University of Minnesota who presented the work at the ACS meeting.
Since most male contraceptives currently undergoing clinical trials target the male sex hormone testosterone, they could lead to side effects such as weight gain, depression and increased cholesterol levels. To avoid these, Noman said his team worked to create a non-hormonal option.
To develop this contraceptive, researchers targeted the retinoic acid receptor alpha protein (RAR-α), which in part makes up a form of vitamin A that “plays important roles” in cell growth, sperm formation and embryonic development. According to the scientists, knocking out the RAR-α gene in male mice makes them sterile but causes no other side effects.
Georg’s team was able to identify a compound named YCT529 that inhibited RAR-α. When administered to mice orally for four weeks, this compound dramatically reduced sperm counts and was 99% effective at preventing pregnancy. If mice stopped receiving the compound, they were able to father pups again after four to six weeks.
Scientists have not found any side effects related to the contraceptive.
Human clinical trials for YCT529 are set to begin in the third or fourth quarter of this year, according to Georg.
“Because it can be difficult to predict if a compound that looks good in animal studies will also pan out in human trials, we’re currently exploring other compounds, as well,” she said.
If the trials are successful, the compound could become one of three effective methods of male birth control. Currently, male condoms and vasectomy are the only options available to men.
Condoms are single-use and have a typical failure rate of 13%, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While vasectomies have a failure rate lower than 1% and are sometimes reversible, “reversal surgery is expensive and not always successful,” said researchers.
A little over 45% of men said they used condoms during intercourse, according to data collected from 2011-2015. Around 50 million men have had a vasectomy and more than 500,000 men elect to have vasectomies every year in the U.S., said the Cleveland Clinic.
There is a wider range of birth control options for women, including hormonal birth control pills, rings and patches; intrauterine devices; implants; injections and barrier methods such as diaphragms.
According to the CDC, 65.3% of women aged 15 to 49 in the U.S. used contraception from 2017 to 2019. The most common contraceptive methods were female sterilization (tubal ligation) at 18.1%, oral contraceptive pills at 14%, long-acting reversible contraceptives at 10.4%, and the male condom at 8.4%.
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