Major breakthrough could lead to contraceptive pill for men

A team of researchers have made a major breakthrough that could give couples greater choice in birth control.

Human egg sperm fertilization. Thinkstock

A groundbreaking contraceptive pill for men could be just around the corner after a major breakthrough, scientists say.

Researchers from Washington State University have discovered a gene that is responsible for normal sperm production in humans and other mammals.

Blocking or deactivating it with drugs leads to a reduced sperm count, reduced movement and an abnormal shape, the new study has found.

Lab experiments on mice found switching off gene Arrdc5 slashed sperm production by 28 per cent and 98 per cent of those still produced were damaged.

The potentially historic breakthrough contraceptive pill would have no hormonal side effects.

However, the potentially historic breakthrough contraceptive pill would also have no hormonal side effects and simply stopping the medication would allow the gene to reactivate and make the patient produce normal sperm again.

“Our study identifies this gene for the first time as being expressed only in testicular tissue, nowhere else in the body,” Professor Jon Oatley, from Washington State University, said.

“When it is inactivated in males, they make sperm that cannot fertilise an egg, and that’s a prime target for male contraceptive development.

“You don’t want to wipe out the ability to ever make sperm – just stop the sperm that are being made from being made correctly.

“Then, in theory, you could remove the drug and the sperm would start being built normally again.”

There are currently no medical contraceptives for men, while women have a range of hormone options – but many suffer side effects.

Scientists are trying to invent a drug for men so that couples have more choice.

There are currently no medical contraceptives for men, while women have a range of hormone options.

A trial by the National Institutes of Health in the US is showing promising results for the Nestorone hormone gel, which slashes sperm counts after being rubbed into the skin.

Prof Oatley and his team are now working on a drug for humans and have filed a patent for a contraceptive blocking the protein made by this gene.

“We don’t really have anything on the male side for contraception other than surgery and only a small percentage of men choose vasectomies,” he said.

“If we can develop this discovery into a solution for contraception, it could have far-ranging impacts.”

It comes after Australian researchers were undertaking trials at the Epworth Hospital in Melbourne last year for a new, injectable male contraception that works as a temporary vasectomy by using a blocking hydrogel.

The hydrogel is injected into the vas deferens (tubes that carry sperm) to block the sperm from travelling from the testes. It dissolves after about two years and the procedure can be repeated.