We don't need such a contraceptive

The new male contraceptive works, but side effects forced to interrupt his trial

marks, Geektimes

The new male contraceptive, which is injected into the body by injection, shows almost one hundred percent effectiveness. 320 men took part in the drug trials. The drug is hormonal, its effect is based on a decrease in the quality of spermatozoa by affecting the pituitary gland.

Trials of the drug lasting a year showed 96% effectiveness (only male volunteers who have a female sexual partner participated in the project). Despite the effectiveness of the contraceptive, experts say that it needs to be improved, since it has many side effects. Among them are depression and mood swings, muscle pain, acne, increased libido.

Of the 320 men who took part in the experiment, too strong side effects occurred in 20 volunteers. These men decided to stop testing the drug. Among the most obvious manifestations of side effects of the drug are one case of depression and one case with heart rhythm problems. One study participant committed suicide, but, as it turned out, it had nothing to do with the side effects of hormonal contraceptives.

The tests were prematurely stopped after the decision to stop testing the drug was made by an independent commission of observers. Experts considered that further use of the drug may be too dangerous for the study participants. Nevertheless, 75% of the volunteers stated that they are satisfied with the contraceptive and would like to continue using it after the drug is available.

Mario Festin, a representative of the World Health Organization, said: "The result of the work showed that we have the opportunity to get a hormonal contraceptive for men, which removes the risk of unplanned pregnancy in a partner." Richard Anderson, the author of the study, believes that the male hormonal contraceptive is much better than condoms.

The study of the effectiveness of the drug included two stages. At the first stage, men used a contraceptive drug developed by specialists, and women used traditional methods of contraception. At the second stage, couples who agreed to take part in the experiment used only contraception for men.

Injections contain a special form of the hormone of the progestogen group with a long duration of action. The most significant progestogen in the body is progesterone. The hormone used by scientists blocks sperm production. The pituitary gland is responsible for this process. Unfortunately, when using progestogen, the level of testosterone in the male body drops, so you also have to inject this hormone. "You need testosterone in order to feel good," Anderson said.

For a year, men were injected with the drug every two months. During this time, four cases of pregnancy were recorded among the partners of the participants in the experiment. The effectiveness of an injectable contraceptive for men turned out to be approximately equal to the effectiveness of birth control pills for women. As for condoms, they do not provide such reliable protection. Their efficiency is only 82%.

The developers believe that it is necessary to carry out further work on the drug so that it can be brought to the market of contraceptives. Despite the fact that the injectable contraceptive has shown quite high efficacy, the hormones that are used in this drug need to continue to be studied in order to obtain a sufficient balance between efficacy and safety.

According to experts, for 40 years scientists have not made progress on the issue of creating contraceptives for men. The current work may be able to change the situation. However, the drug still needs to be refined to make it safer. Perhaps, experts say, it is worth changing the concentration of the active drug. In order to understand what dose of the drug will be safe for a person, but still effective, it is necessary to conduct additional research on the contraceptive.

But practically no one doubts that the creation of a male contraceptive is a matter of the near future. "The results allow us to speak with confidence that this can be done," Anderson said.

However, some experts believe that it will not be easy to avoid side effects of the drug. "Most of the previous attempts to create a reliable contraceptive for men with hormonal effects led to side effects that could not be avoided. This study shows better results than previous work, but still, they don't seem too good to me," says Sarah Jones, a pharmacology specialist.

Jones recently published a study where she demonstrated the possibility of using drugs that reduce sperm motility. In her opinion, this is a more realistic way to create contraceptives for men.

"An acceptable contraceptive for men can be a drug whose use does not cause problems. This is the main question in the current study," says infertility specialist Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield.

The results of the study of the effectiveness of the drug are published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (Behre et al., Efficacy and Safety of an Injectable Combination Hormonal Contraceptive for Men).

Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru  31.10.2016