A serious effort at a male contraceptive pill

[unixronin]

[finder's credit: paeyl]

Researchers at the University of Kansas are embarking on an NIH-funded project to develop a male contraceptive pill.  Rather than being hormone-based, the plan is to chemically block the action of several fertility-critical enzymes.  About half a million compounds will be tested in the project, wehich has a declared goal of 100% effectiveness with no risky side effects.

Comments

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

About forty years, says the article.

[bbullock.livejournal.com]

Wait, I thought there already was a male contraceptive; haven't they had it in Europe for a while, now? I'd use that thing in a second.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

There's been a number of experiments. There's been testosterone-based maile pills which were reportedly effective, and reportedly allowed a return to normal fertility in about nine months. There's also any number of different approaches documented at malecontraceptives.org (http://www.malecontraceptives.org/index.htm), some of which look pretty promising. There's one experimental method that uses an injection of a charged polymer into the vas deferens, which coats the sinus and electrostatically disrupts sperm passing through the vas deferens; it's reportedly good for ten years, and reversible on demand with a simple procedure that flushes it out. The Indian Army has also reportedly had good results using neem-tree oil; it's reportedly 100% effective as long as the daily neem dosage is maintained, and fertility returns about 6 weeks after discontinuing use.