The recently concluded second Future of Male Contraception conference highlighted the progress in the developments of male contraceptives. Among those that have promising potential:

• DepoProvera. It seems to be 90% effective, but was not positively rated by the test patients


• an "Intra Vas Device" (a vasectomy alternative), developed by shepherd Medical Company. After 6 months of use, 92% of the men had no sperm or almost no sperm. The device blocks sperm in the vas deferens, the tube sperm swim through (the same tube that is cut in vasectomy) and can be removed to restore fertility. However, it doesn't guarantee successful pregnancy after long-term use.


• vitamin A receptor blocker, developed by Columbia University researchers. A drug that had been abandoned by a pharmaceutical company precisely because it interfered with vitamin A receptors in the testes was tested in mice, and it worked with no health effects. "The receptors are everywhere, but the testis is exquisitely sensitive to the drug. So we can use a dose that is so low it has no effect on the rest of the body."

For further information about the conference, see the conference website. For further information about male contraception, see Male Contraceptives.

Source: EurekAlert