One of the frequently-cited challenges to popularizing a new male contraceptive is the idea that men avoid going to the doctor. If that’s so, how are they going to get a new male contraceptive? Well, it turns out that men do go to the doctor, and they do care about their reproductive health – at least the middle-aged men in the Men in Australia Telephone Survey (MATeS) do. These men are concerned about their health: almost 90% of them had been to a doctor in the past year, and many of them expressed concern about their reproductive health. (The interviewers asked about prostate health and erectile dysfunction as reproductive health indicators.) The study authors conclude that given the high level of reproductive health concern, more effort should go into providing education and services for men.
Read more:
The men in Australia Telephone Survey (MATeS) - lessons for all.
de Kretser DM, Cock M, Holden C.
Medical Journal of Australia. 2006 Oct 16;185(8):412-3.
Things are moving fast with the Intra Vas Device study. By the end of this month, over half of the study volunteers will have their IVDs.
Some interesting revelations are coming out of the study. It turns out that the men getting the IVD are quite different from the men seeking a regular vasectomy. The men coming in for vasectomy have been thinking about it for a long time and are finally ready – they just want to get it over with, and they don’t want to come back for checkups. Some of the men even mail in their post-vasectomy sperm sample to the clinic so they don’t have to come in.
The IVD volunteers often have very different motivations, though. Some of them really don’t want anything cut, and they prefer the concept of plugs. Some of them like the idea of higher potential reversibility, even though there’s no guarantee that the IVD can offer that at this time. (We know it’s easy enough to pull the IVDs out without expensive microsurgery, but that doesn’t mean fertility will return if the IVDs have been in place a long time.) Some of the men are participating to contribute to science and to further the possibility of a new contraceptive option someday (not to mention getting it years before it’s generally available!).
Does this description sound like an early adopter you know in Florida, Louisiana, or Minnesota? If so, have them contact the study coordinator soon.
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Remember ultrasound, the non-invasive method studied in animals in the 1970s that provides six months of contraception with just a few minutes of use? No? You’re not alone; it has not been studied in the past 20 years, the developer has passed away, and there’s the widespread sense that maybe it doesn’t really work.
Now a team has come together to figure out why two groups of researchers had very different results in the 1970s, and to try ultrasound on a few animals using the latest equipment and tests. We’ll keep you up to date on the results.
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The U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development has set September 25-26 for its second Future of Male Contraception conference in Seattle. This meeting will be a great opportunity to build on the growing excitement around male contraceptive development. The last conference, in September 2004, is still paying dividends in terms of connections made. MCIP will be working to spread the word so that venture capitalists, grantmakers, entrepreneurs, and reporters will be there, too.
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Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle recently reported the results of a trial of a new formulation of a hormonal male contraceptive. The 44 men in the trial used daily testosterone gel applied to their skin plus quarterly DepoProvera (progestin) injections for 6 months. The combination was effective in dramatically suppressing sperm counts with minimal impact on blood cholesterol levels. The researchers are encouraged, and hope to proceed with long-term safety studies. In women, long term DepoProvera use is linked to bone density loss, weight gain, and a slight increase in the risk of breast cancer.
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Now that research on hormonal male contraceptives is quite advanced, regulators may soon be faced with setting approval standards for new products. The members of the Summit Meeting on Hormonal Male Contraception, a group of researchers and policymakers, have taken a step toward establishing such standards by agreeing on a set of Phase II and III clinical trial guidelines. For example, the Summit members agreed that a good benchmark to measure effectiveness would be a sperm concentration less than 1 million per milliliter of semen. (For comparison, 20 million sperm/mL is generally considered the lower limit of normal fertility). For safety assurance for a new drug, the Summit members recommend treating 300-600 men at the intended formulation and dose for six months, and treating at least 100 men for a year. They recommended that a total of 1,500 men participate in all three phases of clinical trials.
Read more:
10th Summit Meeting Consensus: Recommendations for Regulatory Approval for Hormonal Male Contraception.
Nieschlag E.
Journal of Andrology. 2006 Dec 27; [Epub ahead of print]
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The United Kingdom’s All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health is about to release a report stating that high birth rates undermine health in developing countries and make it hard to escape from poverty. Sound obvious? It may be obvious, but it’s often unstated: the Millennium Development Goals never made it clear that population growth rates and open access to family planning will have a huge impact on development rates. Now this report unambiguously makes the connection: “The high birth rate in developing countries undermines the health of adults and children through an increased risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth, poorer infant nutrition and less chance of receiving education… An approach to decrease the birth rate in developing countries should include… making family planning available.”
Hopefully this will give contraceptive research and contraceptive supply a boost. Everybody should now be able to agree that keeping women and infants healthy, giving couples control over their reproductive future, and creating a chance to escape from poverty are all worthwhile goals.
Learn more:
• Reproductive Health and
the Millennium Development Goals:
The Missing Link, Barbara Crossette, Hewlett Foundation, December 2004
• Birth rate 'harms poverty goals', BBC News, 8 December
2006
• Population growth & the Millennium Development Goals, Male Contraception Update for the research community, 5 January 2007
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In this past week’s science section, the New York Times featured an interview with David Clapham, the researcher at Harvard studying CatSper genes. Dr. Clapham does an amazing job of explaining how this ion channel one day could be the target of a male contraceptive drug. You should be able to read the interview for the next few days without registering.
Small Wonders: Understanding the Way of the Warrior Sperm
New York Times, January 23
A New Zealand newspaper discusses men’s experiences with vasectomy – a whopping 57% of Kiwi men in their 40s have vasectomies. The article wonders whether guys in New Zealand are at heart more caring types willing to share contraceptive responsibility. Of course, it probably doesn’t hurt that vasectomy is paid for by the national health service! The men interviewed are generally pretty happy with their choice.
Caring guys opt for vasectomies
The Northern Advocate, 22 January
Starting with the February issue (on the stands now), Playboy is doing a series of in-depth reports on the science of male sexuality. The first one tracks “a sperm cell and its delicate payload, the underrated Y chromosome, on their fantastic voyage…” Leave it to Playboy to make a six-page story about chromosomes attention-grabbing! Complete with a sidebar about new male contraceptive leads.
The American Veterinary Medical Association opened its newsletter with an article on the need for alternatives to surgical sterilization for dogs and cats. We who care for humans are not the only ones waiting for something new!
Getting beyond surgical contraception
JAVMA News, 15 January
Members of Dr. John Herr ’s laboratory at the University of Virginia Health System reported the discovery of a new protein within a sperm’s tail that could be a target for male contraceptive drugs.
Male Contraception: Discovery Stirring Interest Among Scientists, Drug Developers
UVA press release, 20 December
The Vancouver Sun interviewed Dr. Neil Pollock regarding the Intra Vas Device (IVD). Dr. Pollock hopes to conduct a Canadian trial based on the success of the ongoing U.S. IVD trial, measured by sperm count results. Those results should be available this spring.
Vasectomy alternative offers reversal hope
Vancouver Sun, 18 December
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Editors
Elaine Lissner, Director of the Male Contraception Information Project (MCIP)
Email: info@NewMaleContraception.org
MCIP is entirely nonprofit and works in three areas: raising public awareness of promising nonhormonal male contraceptives, advocating increased and expedited government research, and serving as a resource for journalists who wish to write about the subject.
Kirsten Thompson, Director of the Male Contraception Coalition (MCC)
Email: info@MaleContraceptives.org
The Coalition’s objectives are to speed the development of new male contraceptives through increased legislative and institutional support, to raise funds for applied male contraception research and development, and to educate the public about the work of the research community.
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