Edinburgh team brings male pill a step closer

LONDON - Scientists at Edinburgh University say they have made a significant breakthrough in the race to put the first male contraceptive pill on the market.

Tests show the version being developed at the university - which is already ahead of the field - appears 100 per cent effective and has no damaging side effects, they claim.

A six-month study involving 60 men in Scotland and China showed the pill had successfully made all of the volunteers temporarily infertile.

The scientists say they are delighted with the results. But birth rates will not tumble yet as they predict the male pill will not be on sale for five years.

Professor David Baird, a reproductive biologist and part of the Edinburgh team, said the test was part of study aimed at providing a range of contraceptive options for men.

He said: "It is certainly very encouraging. We could have a male pill within five years.

"It could be as effective as the female pill, but more trials have to be done."

The female pill is generally regarded as the most effective birth control method with only one in 1000 women becoming pregnant. But it can have serious side effects for a woman's health and is avoided by older women.

This version of the male pill is being developed by Dutch-based drug company Organon, which funded the trials in Edinburgh and Shanghai, as well as other tests in Cape Town and a small village outside Lagos in Nigeria.

The Edinburgh team are in competition with another research team at Strathclyde University in Glasgow and one at Leicester University.

The Strathclyde team is conducting research into a once a year contraceptive vaccine. The injection works by attacking the sperm, ensuring they do not become mature enough to make a woman pregnant.

Leicester University's method relies on a chemical that blocks the muscle action which contracts to squirt sperm into semen.

The full results of the Edinburgh study will be presented at the World Conference of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians in Washington in September.

Baird said the pill had none of the side effects associated with similar male pills developed in the past, such as weight gain, high blood pressure, acne or loss of libido.

It works by releasing hormones into the male bloodstream that stops the body producing sperm. It is made up of a combination of desogestrel, a synthetic steroid found in the female pill, and the male sex hormone testosterone, which prevents a loss of sex drive.

The male pill works by fooling the brain into thinking that the testes are producing high levels of testosterone. Brain signals to the testes are then switched off, which means sperm production is halted.

An injection given every three months gradually releases testosterone to compensate for the temporary halt in its natural production.

The contraceptive may be developed as a pill which men would have to take every day to remain infertile.

But as women do not always trust men to take a daily pill, it may be produced as a implant under the skin which gradually released the hormones.

It is argued that the male contraceptive would become a valuable new option for couples in their 30s and 40s who had already had children and did not want more.

Many men in such relationships either had to use condoms or take the drastic step of having a vasectomy.

- INDEPENDENT