Male contraception: just one shot
New contraceptives for men are more reliable than condomsAlexey Timoshenko, GZT.RU
Trials of a new contraceptive have begun at the University of Edinburgh.
Scottish researchers have developed a hormonal drug, the injection of which reduces the number of spermatozoa for two months, but this process, according to scientists, is completely reversible.
Most hormonal contraceptives are designed for women. If we are talking about pills, then they are either taken regularly or once after sexual intercourse. The latter, however, is unsafe with frequent use, and does not give a 100% guarantee. The creation of hormonal pills for men will, according to the developers, achieve higher reliability than in the case of using condoms. This hypothesis is to be tested.
One injection every two months
The trials, in which 20 couples will take part, will last a year and will be a continuation of studies already conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization, which have shown that the drug has no serious side effects. During this year, both the effectiveness and reversibility of the drug will be tested. The Press Association (New contraceptive trial jab for men) does not say what kind of reward the volunteers will receive. But one of the advantages is particularly noted: injections should be done once every two months, and not every week, as previously thought.
According to Richard Anderson, an employee of the Department of Reproductive Technologies at the University of Edinburgh, work in the field of hormonal male contraception has been carried out for a long time, but the difficulty was that too frequent injections were required. Carefully observing the injection schedule and giving injections once a week did not appeal to anyone, so the method was not widely used. But the situation will change if the drug needs to be administered only once every two months.
How does it work?
The drug contains two hormones – testosterone and progesterone. After their introduction, the number of spermatozoa in the sperm decreases significantly and reaches a point at which fertilization is extremely unlikely. The results of the previous study, which were published in 2006 by the Lancet magazine, showed the effectiveness of such vaccines, but then testosterone had to be administered at least once a week to achieve the result.
Why men?
A logical question may arise: why is the drug designed for men? After all, since the appearance of the first contraceptive pills in the 1950s, they were made exclusively for women, and even now hormonal female pills are a widespread category of medicines.
"A lot of women who regularly take hormonal pills believe that now it would be nice to assign this responsibility to men," Anderson says in an interview with the Scottish edition of The Sun and adds that there will not be a complete displacement of male injections of female pills. In his opinion, people should have a choice, and the case of scientists with pharmacists is to ensure this choice.
The Sun newspaper also provides a selection of statements by young Scots about the new method of contraception, which are quite predictable: injections as a worthy alternative to other means of protection are considered by permanent couples, but in the case of short-term relationships, most still have suspicions about the vaccine. "I wouldn't trust a young man I've recently met if he says he gave himself such an injection," 25–year-old Laura Anderson explains her position.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru06.10.2009