This idea of a male contraceptive pill first came to life in the year the 1950s, when the female pill was first invented. Researchers from a Scottish university want to be the ones to be able to say “we made it”, by using more than $900,000, money that can allow them to put to the test thousands of drugs that already exist, to see if they have some potential in becoming the first male pill.
Trials show positive results
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was the one to donate the money, and their initiative is to help women from developing countries to get the contraception that they need to control the size of their family. They’re investing in this pill after global studies showed that men from multiple countries were willing to use it, if only there’d be one.
We have the drugs we need
The National Phenotypic Screening Centre has given the researchers from Dundee University about $929,585 over two years to encourage their work. They’re looking for existing drugs that can change some of the behavior of the sperm, that’s essential for fertility. We’re talking, first of all, about their ability to get to the female reproductive tract and second of all, of a cellular process in the head of the sperm, which is compulsory for the cell to get towards the egg. Apparently, we have those drugs.
The US comes with a hormonal gel to the party
These pieces of news were revealed when a team from the US announced a hormonal gel. Some men will use a gel that gets absorbed through the skin on their shoulders and upper arms – that gel contains the progestin hormone that’s used for female contraception and testosterone.