During the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society, a team of scientists reported that they managed to develop a male contraceptive pill that is 99% effective and without side effects, according to the results of tests in mice. Human testing is expected to begin by the end of 2022.
Abdullah Al Noman, a graduate student at the University of Minnesota who leads the work, said that this pill is not hormonal, but rather blocks a protein called retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha.
He explained that inside the body, vitamin A is converted into different substances, including retinoic acid, which plays important roles in cell growth, sperm formation and embryonic development.
According to the specialist, most of the compounds currently in clinical trials target the male sex hormone testosterone, which could cause side effects such as weight gain, depression and increased levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (known as LDL).
As part of the clinical trials, the elimination of the retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha gene resulted in male mice rendering them sterile, with no obvious side effects.
It was thanks to the identification of the compound, YCT529, that it was possible to inhibit RAR-alpha almost 500 times more potent than RAR-β and -γ. When administered orally to male mice for 4 weeks, YCT529 dramatically reduced sperm count and was 99% effective in preventing pregnancy, with no observable side effects. Mice were able to rebreed offspring 4 to 6 weeks after they stopped receiving the compound.
According to the YourChoice Therapeutics consultant, YCT529 will begin testing in human clinical trials in the third or fourth quarter of 2022. “Because it can be difficult to predict whether a compound that looks good in animal studies will also work in human trials, we are currently exploring other compounds, too,” he said.
To identify these next-generation compounds, researchers are modifying the existing compound and testing new avenues that open the door to the diversification of contraceptive products for men.
According to the report Worlds apart: reproductive health and rights in times of inequality, 2021. worldwide, 7 out of 10 countries experienced interruptions in contraception services due to the pandemic.
UNFPA, the United Nations agency for sexual and reproductive health, released data in 2021 indicating that, due to COVID-19 disruptions in the past year, nearly 12 million women in 115 countries lost access to family planning services, resulting in 1.4 million unplanned pregnancies.
According to the National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID) 2018, by 2018 the percentage of respondents who knew at least one contraceptive was 98.6%. However, only 95.6% knew how to use it, which meant a slight increase compared to 2014.
When making the distinction in five-year age groups in 2018, 99.2% of women between 25 and 29 years old knew at least one contraceptive and 97.5% knew its functionality, thus being the group with the highest percentage of women with this knowledge, while among adolescents (15 to 19 years old), 98.1% knew at least one method and 92.4% had functional knowledge, which places them as the group of women who least knew how to use a contraceptive method.
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