Male Birth Control Contraceptive Drugs And Devices Underway

In Nigeria, the issue of male birth control or male contraception is only limited to condom, abstinence, withdrawal method and vasectomy. Because of the many disadvantage of these methods, female birth control became more common and popular. Another reason female birth control is more common is because first contraceptive were for women. But scientist all over the world are looking for a way to manufacture a universal acceptable male birth control method with less or no side effect, easy to use and affordable. It must also be reversible if it is going to be different from the one we already have.
They have come up with many. But the side effects or low efficacy led to the project getting abandoned. Others are at different stages of clinical trials. However, it is believe that in the next 10 years men will have a contraceptive that meets major requirements.

Why The Delay

Interest in male contraception came only some few years ago, it was generally considered a breakthrough drug for women in the 60s because some pregnancy created risk for women.
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To produce a contraceptive for females, you need a drug that will inhibit the production of the egg, prevent fertilization or implantation. This is an easy feat for scientist. However, the man produce millions of sperm per day and release average of 250 million sperm per ejaculation. Though sperm is small, we need a drug that will inhibit the production of this quantity to zero or prevent it from leaving the penis. This is no easy feat.
Another reason is that men don't like using contraceptive. This is more if it got to do with taking a drug everyday just to prevent pregnancy. However, it must be noted that this trend is generally changing over the years as more me consider themselves part of the family planning and promiscuous men trying not to break some odd records set by some promiscuous men.
Presently, the dosage form of some of the male birth control in trials right now range from gel and patch, tablet and devices. Maybe, some will soon be in injection form. Also, majority of the research work done so far are not in the public domain. Many of the literature are kept secret by their respective companies pending when they will get patent rights. However, we at Drugxpert were able to get a glimpse of the future.

Male Contraceptive

Since we already know about condom, and vasectomy, we will move on to those that are not yet approve for use.

Male Contraceptive

Progesterone And Testosterone

The drug is a combination of two compounds known as progesterone 200mg (which is similar to the compound found in female contraceptive norethisterone enanthate) and an androgen called Testosterone undercanoate 1g.

Mechanism Of Action

The progesterone lowers the amount of testosterone in the body including the testes. The testosterone is to increase the quantity of testosterone level in the body except in the testes. This help to prevent the production of sperm in the testes but makes testosterone available in other parts of the body for other vital function since it is needed for other functions.

Dose

The drug was to be taken once every 8 weeks. The experiment lasted for 26 weeks. Unfortunately, due to some side effects, the trial is stop for now

Dimethandrolone

Dimethandrolone undercanoate is a prototype pill that has been shown to lower testosterone level in the body. At the end of the study using 83 men between the ages of about 18 to 53, there was no serious side effect recorded. And it inhibit spermatogenesis to zero.

Mechanism Of Action

It reduce testosterone level in the body. It blocks androgen and progesterone receptor which in turn inhibit spermatogenesis. It also suppression gonadotropins and maintain androgenic effect.

Dose

Daily dose of 200-800 mg were well tolerated.

Side Effects

Overall weight gain was observe with a reduction in the level of good cholesterol (High Density Lipoprotein, HDLP). Only 8 men reported lower sex drive over the period.
This drug may most likely scale through clinical stages. However, there is some level of fear by health experts on the health implication it may have. Since it lowers the level of testorone in the body, there is a fear that the positive impact of testosterone in other parts of the body will be affected. On the other hand, the argument for it is that the small level of testosterone left is more than enough to allow the other parts to work at optimum level e.g hair, libido, low voice and muscle maintenance.

Nestorone

Nestorone is a progestin commonly found in female contraceptive in combination with testosterone. It is similar to the first drug progesterone and testosterone.

Mechanism Of Action

It lower testorone in body. It does this by shutting down the gonadotrophin hormones responsible for stimulating testosterone production in the testes. The level of testorone found in the body is usually lower than that found in the testes. However in lowering the amount of testosterone in the testes also leads to a lower amount in the body. So the testosterone attach help to restore that quantity back. This help to fight low libido and other body functions that requires testosterone.

Dose

This time, it is made into a gel to be place on the shoulder and arms once a day.

Reversible Nonsurgical Vasectomy (RISUG)

Vasectomy is the process of cutting or tying off the vas defence so that sperm cannot mix with seminal fluid and ejaculated out of the penis. This method is not easily reversible. An Indian company is currently working on a reversible method. It involve injecting a polymer gel into the vas deference so that sperm cannot enter the urethra down to the seminal fluid. To reverse the effect, another liquid is injected into the polymer gel to break the gel. Once the gel is broken, the person can release sperm. However, the process require the presence of a professional.

Side Effects

No recorded side effects so far with 98 % efficacy.
The drug is on its way to be patented.

Dick Clip

Similar to RISUG, it involves clipping the vas deference. It directs the sperm outside the  spermatic duct. The body then sees it as a foreign matter and treat it as such. Its as small as a glummy bear measuring 7*11*11 mm and weighing 2g.
It is durable and biocompatible where the surgery to insert it last only a couple of minutes.

Advantages Over Vasectomy

With vasectomy, sperm produce in the testicles cannot exit the body for life. Matured sperm in the body is broken down and absorbed into the body. The epididymis absorb fluid while macrophages break down solid before reabsorption into the body. After some years, the body produce more macrophages to destroy more of the unused sperm. Also, the epididymis increase in size to be able to compensate for the extra work of absorbing more fluid. It gets to a stage the body produce antisperm antibodies. This is as a result of the increase pressure on the vas deference and epididymis. At this stage, not even the surgery can return the person to produce children again.
But as for the dick clip, the body can retain its potency after years.

Others Male Contraceptive

Justicia Gendarussa

Some years ago, it was discovered that a group of villagers in the jungle of Papaun believe that the leave of the plant Justicia Gendarussa offer some level of contraception for men. This lead to an investigation of the said leave. In 2014, Associate professor Bambeny extracted an active ingredient from the tea believe to posses the activity. In a capsule form, he claim the drug disrupt the enzymes present in sperm that normally allow them to enter a woman's ovum (egg). However, since this discovery the drug have gone into sales especially in online stores with no further worthwhile work published trials as at 2016. Users are generally advise to speak with a healthcare expert for advise.

JQI

The side effect of this anticancer drug is shown to block sperm production in the testicles of mice. No human trial yet.

Calcium Channel Blockers

Calcium channel blockers such a Nifedipine are drugs for treating high blood pressure. They cause lipid metabolism of sperm. This alter the ability of the sperm to fertilize egg. Luckily, it is reversible. However, this drug is not use for this purpose yet because it can reduce blood pressure of healthy persons causing more problems.

Adjudin

This is believe to disrupt the function of the testicles so that only immature sperms are released. However, this drug may not see the light of day as there were some recorded side effects in rats

Gossypol

Gossypol is an extract of cotton believe to decrease sperm production but is permanent in about 20% of patients that use it.

Immunocontraception

Immunocontraception targeting sperm antigens has been found to be effective in male primates.
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Vitamin A Inhibition

A compound that interferes with vitamin A pathway has been found to render male mice sterile for the course of treatment. However, serious side effects will not allow this to see the light of day.

Gamendazole

Phenoxybenzamine block granulation and reversible ouabain reduces sperm motility in rats.

Warm Underpants

It has been shown that tight fitting pants reduce sperm production. This is believe to be due to the heat produce by these pants. Now, a warm Underpants for just the testes may be underway as it is currently under intensive trials.
All the research is based on method of preventing pregnancies and not prevention of specially transmitted disease (S.T.D).
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