MALE CONTRACEPTION UPDATE

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

“Someday” has finally arrived. Men have 3 clinical trials to choose from with a total of 11 sites now—and some of them are closing next month, so no time to waste!

There are 3 methods being tested, 2 hormonal and 1 nonhormonal.

Country	City	Method	Contact Person
United States	Seattle	Male hormonal contraceptive topical gel applied every day	ClinicalTrials.gov website
	Los Angeles
United Kingdom	Manchester	Male hormonal contraceptive injected every 8 weeks	Alison Lloyd 0800 040 7187 Carly Mosely 0161 901 1825
	Edinburgh		Nick Malone 0131 2422670, n.malone@hrsu.mrc.ac.uk
Italy	Bologna		Enza Constantino 051-6363716
Germany	Halle		Constanze Kloss, constanze.kloss@medizin.uni-halle.de
Chile	Santiago		Gabriela Noe, gnoe@icmer.org
India	New Delhi		Dr. Misro 011-26165959
	New Delhi	RISUG	LNJP Hospital, Dr. H.C. Das
	Udhampur		District Hospital, Drs. KC Sharma or TR Gupta
	Jaipur		University of Rajasthan, SMS Medical College, Drs. NK Lohiya or Sanda Sukhi
	Ludhiana		Drs. B. Shah, Baldev Singh, Sandeep Sharma

The University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington (UW) are study sites for an NIH-funded gel-only study (testosterone + Nestorone) and have recruited 60 out of 120 subjects.  This is the first testosterone plus progestin hormonal male contraception study we know of that has no injections or implants at all, just gel. We think men will like the idea of not having shots—but in exchange, there’s something to remember every day. Hopefully all those Seattle and Los Angeles guys have PDAs and iPhones they can set for reminders! The UW work was the focus of a long cover story in the Seattle Weekly.

Enrollment for the World Health Organization/CONRAD hormonal trial (injections every 8 weeks) will be closing in August/September, so if you’re interested and live in the right city, now’s the time. 

Finally, men in New Delhi, India have the most complete choice of Phase III male contraceptive trials in the world right now, with both a hormonal method (the WHO study) and a nonhormonal method (RISUG vasectomy alternative).  The RISUG clinical trial, being conducted by the Indian Council for Medical Research, has 3 additional study sites (Udhampur, Jaipur, and Ludhiana) and is only accepting men who are finished with childbearing.  Sorry, guys: the study is NOT open to foreigners; men MUST live in the local area for followup.  But stay tuned: US work on RISUG is moving forward, with the first clinical trials planned to begin the year after next.

 

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. 

The program interviewed one of the fathers of the Pill, hormonal male contraception researchers in the US and UK, the inventor of RISUG in India, the director of the Male Contraception Information Project, and several men from the study in Scotland.

The conclusion? Find out firsthand by listening!

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Take action!

Sign the petition
If you haven’t already, take a moment to take the survey and sign the petition calling for faster development of male contraceptives.

Join “We want RISUG!” on Facebook
Getting impatient for RISUG’s introduction? Become a member of “We want RISUG!” on Facebook, and share the page with others.  Vaalea D., you rock for creating this page!

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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.