For decades birth control research focused on women. Now there's a new push to develop gels, pills or other products that could keep men from getting their partners pregnant.
"We would like to create a menu of options for men similar to what women have available to them," says Stephanie Page, a researcher and endocrinologist at the University of Washington.along with researchers at 15 other sites across the globe, testing out a topical gel that a man applies to his shoulders every day. The gel contains synthetic hormones – a combination of testosterone and progestin – that signal the brain to lower testosterone levels in the body.
Nguyen's lab is also working on a hormonal pill that would work similarly to the gel, and Page's lab is hoping to eventually develop an injectable hormone solution. As for side effects, some participants report weight gain, changes in libido, acne, or mood swings." Those, she points out, are"very similar to those that some women experience using female hormonal contraceptives."Another area of research targets precise points in the sperm's life cycle, including its ability to swim, or to fertilize an egg.
"When we think about risks, what are we protecting the man from? In the case of female contraception, the woman is being protected from the risk of pregnancy and of potentially unsafe abortion. But with men, they're really using a contraceptive to protect their partner. If we just think about the man as a single unit, there should be obviously no side effects and no risk. But I think we really need to move to thinking about couples as a dyad and this is a shared risk," she says.
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