The Pill for Men, not that pill!

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

February 24, 2023 – A time-sensitive birth control pill for men is being hailed as a game changer in reproductive health to effectively stop sperm from swimming.

The pill TDI-11861, which does not have any hormones or affect sperm development will be taken shortly before sex and only as needed, according to the developers at the US National Institutes of Health.  Researchers published the results of their study on Valentine’s Day, February 14th in the Nature Communications Journal.

Citing the number of unplanned pregnancies and few birth control options for men the researchers explained that they targeted an enzyme called soluble adenylyl cyclase which is essential for sperm to swim in semen and reach the egg. A single dose of the TDI pill, inhibits this enzyme, rendering sperm lame, in a sense.

The effect is temporary, beginning within 30 minutes and lasting around 3 hours. According to researchers sperm produced in the hours after will go completely back to normal.  So far the drug has only been tested on live mice and human sperm outside the body, both times with highly positive results researchers say:

“Our goal is— to provide on-demand contraception only when it is needed, and administration of a single oral dose of TDI-11861 did not cause any abnormal mouse behaviour for at least 24 hours,” they explained.

Already researchers are predicting that if it can be safely used on humans, it will be more effective than female oral contraceptives.  The next stage of testing moves to rabbits and if researchers can pull this off, it will be the first major effective birth control for men in over 1000 years and join the big two, condoms and vasectomies.