In the future, both men and women may be able to take birth control. In fact, that future could be sooner than we think.
According to a new study involving 270 men, a male contraceptive injection was 96% effective, leading to just four pregnancies in their partners among a test group.
The contraceptive involves injecting hormones into your body. These hormones, however, led to a high number of reported side effects among men involved in the study.
The idea of using hormone injections as a male contraceptive isn’t new: scientists have been examining the possibility for 20 years. Scientists know they can use hormones to suppress sperm production: the additional challenge is to suppress sperm production without causing unpleasant or unbearable side effects.
Why Male Contraceptives Are More Challenging Than Female Contraceptives
Women might point and studies like this and scoff, claiming they’ve been putting up with “unwanted side effects” for decades while using female contraceptives.
However, there’s an enormous difference between male and female contraceptives. The first and most important difference is that the male body is constantly producing sperm. That means the injected hormones need to significantly reduce levels of sperm to reduce the chances of contraception.
Specifically, hormones need to drop sperm counts from an average of 15 million per milliliter to less than one million per milliliter.
How the Male Injection Contraception Study Worked
This latest study, which was published in summer 2016 in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, involved 270 men between ages 18 and 45.
Each participant had been in a monogamous relationship for at least a year. The men and their partners willingly took part in the test.
Male sperm counts were checked at the beginning of the study to ensure they were within the normal range. Then, men had two hormone injections (one was a type of progesterone, while the other was a form of testosterone).
Men continued to receive injections every 8 weeks, then were monitored for up to 6 months until their sperm count fell to under one million.
Researchers then began the efficacy phase of the study. Men were asked to rely solely on the jab as their form of contraceptive. Men continued to receive the injections at regular intervals for up to one year during the study.
Once men stopped having injections, they were monitored again to see how quickly their sperm counts would recover.
By the end of the study, 8 men had not recovered their normal sperm counts – despite discontinuing the injections at least one year before.
Dr. Mario Festin, lead researcher on the study and a member of the World Health Organization, said that,
“The study found it is possible to have a hormonal contraceptive for men that reduces the risk of unplanned pregnancies in the partners of men who use it.”
Despite the fact that 4 women became pregnant, the success rate was comparable to other forms of birth control available for women – like condoms and birth control pills.
Despite the Side Effects, 75% of Men Said They’d Use the Male Injection Contraceptive Again
The side effects in this study became so bad that 20 men dropped out. In 2011, researchers stopped accepting new participants due to concerns about the severity of side effects.
Men who were jabbed with the hormonal contraceptive experienced side effects like depression and mood disorders along with muscle pains and aches.
Despite these problems, 75% of men who completed the trial said they would use the contraceptive again.
Nevertheless, researchers are focused on making a male contraceptive with minimal side effects. They’re actively researching gels and other delivery methods to ensure men have a safe, effective contraceptive to use in the future.
