According to the LA Weekly, The 50th anniversary of the female contraceptive pill occurred over this past weekend and it just so happens that the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center recently announced it is going to start testing a male contraceptive on patients.
The institute is looking for 60 men ages 18 to 50 to test out is hormonal gel combination that aims to cut male sperm count levels to the point at which conception is not possible.
" ... The use of an application of testosterone and a progestin on the skin as a potential way to deliver the hormones to the body has not been tested," said researcher Dr. Christina Wang (PDF). "This trial is a study of a testosterone gel, which was developed with testing at LA BioMed, to be used with a progestin gel called Nestorone to suppress sperm production. Upon stopping the application of the gel, the sperm production will return to the normal range."
If it works the treatment would still need FDA approval.
So, why did it take researchers over 50 years to get the point where testing could begin? Allow me to quote from a previous blog post of mine entitled, Why Are We Still Waiting For Male Contraceptives?Researchers who actually wish to focus on male contraceptives are not always able to as allocated monies are usually geared towards female contraceptives. Part of this reason is because many pharmaceutical companies fear male contraceptives will not bring in enough money. Why not? Because most figure men would not be interested in taking on the responsibility of birth control in the way that women have for so long.
In other words, sexism.
I think we are still a long way off from a male pill but I am glad that the medical community is moving forward. While this is long over due I am also not in any rush for researchers to produce a pill just so we can say there finally is one. My wish is that the contraceptive will be safe for the men who use it and their partners.
No comments:
Post a Comment