New Male Birth Control Found To Be 99% Effective In Mice, Here’s Why It’s Important

Male contraceptives that don’t include hormones have been shown to be successful at preventing conception in mice without any noticeable negative effects.

Men’s condoms, as well as vasectomy, are the only contraception alternatives now available to males. There are a few drawbacks to condoms, including the fact that they’re disposable and susceptible to failings. Male sterilization by means of a vasectomy, on the other hand, is regarded definitive. While vasectomies may be undone, the corrective operation costs a lot of money and isn’t always effective.

The male sex hormone testosterone is the focus of the majority of the chemicals now being tested in clinical studies, and this might lead to unwanted adverse consequences, including weight gain, depression, as well as a rise in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol.

A protein known as retinoic acid receptor alpha was the focus of the scientists’ hunt for a non-hormonal men contraception (RAR-a). Male mice with the RAR-a gene knocked out are infertile, and there are no apparent negative effects. Male mice are rendered sterile by an ingested substance created by other researchers that suppresses all three RAR group elements, but the study team and its partners in reproductive biology were looking for a medication that was unique to RAR-a and hence less capable of causing negative effects.

They discovered a chemical called YCT529 that suppressed RAR-a 500 fold more effectively than RAR-ß and -γ combined. Male mice administered YCT529 for four weeks showed severe reductions in sperm concentration as well as a 99 percent success rate in blocking conception. There were no known negative effects. It took the rodents 4-6 weeks to mate normally once they quit taking the chemical.

As early as the third/fourth quarter of 2022, YCT529 will be tested on humans in medical studies.

Scientists are altering current drugs and developing novel structural frameworks to find next-generation molecules. They think their research will ultimately provide oral male contraception.

The work was presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).