MALE CONTRACEPTION UPDATE

Clinical trials seek male volunteers in US, UK, Italy, Germany, Chile and India

Three advanced-phase clinical trials of hormonal and nonhormonal contraceptives for men are seeking interested volunteers.  There are a total of 11 study sites in 6 countries enrolling healthy male volunteers.

If your practice is near one of the trial centers, tell patients who may be interested in the studies to look them up!  Contact information for each center is below.

Details about the studies
There are three methods being tested, two male hormonal contraceptives and one nonhormonal method.  The hormonal methods are delivered either by depot injection or as a topical gel.

Male hormonal contraceptive, depot injection
The World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating a trial in 5 countries.  Enrolled men will visit the clinic every 8 weeks for an injection.  The trial will close enrollment in September.  There is space for more volunteers at most of the trial sites, so be sure to tell interested patients now.

Male hormonal contraceptive, topical gel
UCLA and the University of Washington (UW) are study sites for an NIH-funded study of a male hormonal contraceptive delivered in a topical gel.  The sites have recruited about 60 of the desired 120 subjects.  Volunteers in this study will have no injections or implants.  Men may find that appealing, and the study will provide some interesting data on the role of compliance in efficacy!  The UW research team’s work was the focus of a long cover story in the Seattle Weekly.

Nonhormonal contraceptive, RISUG
Men in New Delhi, India, have the most complete choice of male contraceptive trials in the world right now, with both the WHO hormonal and Indian Council on Medical Research (ICMR) RISUG trials running simultaneously.  RISUG is a nonhormonal, nonsurgical alternative to vasectomy.  The RISUG trial is only enrolling men who are finished with childbearing.  The study is not open to foreigners; participants must live in the local area so they can make follow-up visits.  RISUG may also be available in Kharagpur, West Bengal (State Hospital).

BBC World Service asks: “Why are we still waiting for a male pill?”

The occasion: the 50th anniversary of the Pill.

The question: why don’t we have a male “Pill” yet?

The result: a half-hour BBC World Service Health Check program all about emerging methods of contraception for men that was broadcast to an estimated 180 million listeners worldwide. 

BBC Health Check reporters interviewed one of the fathers of the Pill, hormonal male contraceptive researchers in the US and UK, the inventor of RISUG in India, the director of the Male Contraception Information Project, and several articulate study volunteers, including a firefighter and his wife.  

Liability came up as a big issue. Are the developers of future methods more prepared to handle liability than the contraceptive manufacturers of the past, seeing it as an inevitable cost of business? (We think so.) Or is the most negative interviewee right—will liability block introduction of these methods entirely?

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Take action!

If you live in one of the cities above, take a moment to let colleagues and any eligible patients know about the clinical trials.

And no matter where you live,you can take the survey and sign the petition calling for faster development of male contraceptives— if you haven’t already!

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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.