Why has the field of male contraception not seen any progress? – Business Insider India

The condom is over 5000 years old dating back to 3000 BC but apart from that and a vasectomy theres been no advancement in male contraception. Its common knowledge that the female body produces just one or two fertile eggs in a month, but the male body produces sperm daily.

Reducing Sperm Count Is A Work In Progress

Inadequate Funding

Apart from biology, another bottleneck in the advancement of male contraceptives is that of lack of funding. In 2002, two pharma companies namely Sheering and Organon had a breakthrough in a hormone based male contraceptive. However, with the long-term side effects being unknown, it became very low priority for the pharmaceutical companies. The funding mainly comes from government agencies like the National Institutes of Health.

LA Biomed Researcher Dr. Christina Wang is working on a gel that can lower testosterone in the testicles where sperm is produced while keeping testosterones intact in the rest of the body. Skinner is also working on a reversible vasectomy where a gel is inserted into the vas deferens creating a plug instead of cutting it and a chemical mixture can dissolve the plug thereby bring back the fertility.

With the correct funding, these new options may see the light of day in the next few years.

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Why has the field of male contraception not seen any progress? - Business Insider India