The 100-Year Life Health Education and Government
The condom was invented in the mid-19th century. That was the last time an effective and reversible form of contraception became available for men, with the burden of birth control still falling largely on women. Scientists have spent decades searching for a male contraceptive pill; now 16 British volunteers at a clinic in Nottingham will be the first in the world to take part in a clinical trial testing a non-hormonal version. According to the Times, the drug, called YCT-529, blocks a specific protein that is key in sperm production, rather than trying to suppress the hormone testosterone. The drug was 99 per cent effective at preventing pregnancy in mice and the effect was reversed when the treatment ended. The Nottingham trials will initially involve men who have had vasectomies in order to assess safety. “We know that many men would be interested in a male contraceptive pill if one was available,” says Professor Gunda Georg of the University of Minnesota, who led the drug’s development. “And whenever I describe this work to women they always say: ‘It’s about time’.”
Listen: The missing male pill. More than 60 years after the development of the contraceptive pill for women, we still don’t have an equivalent for men. Why?
