An experimental new type of male contraceptive that blocks sperm flow with a gel has been successful in monkey trials.
Vasalgel acts as a physical barrier once injected into the tubes that sperm would swim down to the penis.
The company behind it says a two-year trial, published in Basic and Clinical Andrology , shows the gel works and is safe - at least in primates.
It hopes to have enough evidence to begin tests in men within a few years.
If those get funding and go well - two big "ifs" - it will seek regulatory approval to make the gel more widely available to men.
It would be the first new type of male contraceptive to hit the market in many decades.
Vasagel is thought to have the same effect as a vasectomy — but another injection should dissolve the gel plug.
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38879224
Related: The Perfect Birth Control for Men Is Here. Why Can't We Use It?
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In present day 2015, the available options for contraception aren’t great, and the burden still rests largely on women to mitigate the damages of our wanton impulses. Aside from the copper IUD, all the birth control devices and pharmaceuticals available to women alter our hormones with various weird side effects. When it comes to birth control for men, aside from condoms and pulling out (neither of which are very reliable in practice), a vasectomy has been the only other option for preventing unwanted pregnancies. Though there’s about a coin-flip chance of it being reversible, those odds aren’t enough to make it something guys under 40 typically consider. A few other male contraceptives are being explored, but there are no approved male contraceptive drugs in the United States.
But what if there was a simple way a man to fire blanks until he and his partner were ready to have a kid—without the snip snap?
The process takes about 15 minutes. A doctor injects a tiny dot of a synthetic gel into the sperm-carrying tube just outside of each testicle. Once injected, the gel sets in the tube and acts like a filter, allowing fluid to pass through but not sperm. “Like water might percolate through Jello,” said Elaine Lissner, director of the Parsemus Foundation.
This isn’t like a Depo-Provera shot you have to get once every few months either—once injected, the sperm-filtering gel would remain in place for 10 years. If the recipient decides he wants to take a shot at having kids at any point in between, all it takes is another injection of sodium bicarbonate (aka baking soda) to dissolve the liquid, and the sperm factory becomes operational again.
It may sound too good to be true, but clinical and animal trials in India have shown that the method works with near-perfect results and no serious side effects. And unlike the birth control pill and condoms, which have a real-life efficacy rate far lower than the ‘perfect use’ scenarios advertised on the packages, the birth control injection, like an IUD, comes with virtually no room for human error.
So why isn't this in widespread use? Well, one reason might be that commercially, there is more money to be made selling contraceptive pills than a 10-yearly injection, and secondly, I guess "needles in close proximity to testicles" is not something that many men like the sound of...
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:01PM
I only have sex with female monkeys.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:40PM
Shut up Ethanol. Wednesday is date night.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Thursday February 09 2017, @05:34AM
You can trick monkeys into smearing anything on their naughty bits...
(Score: 4, Funny) by VLM on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:20PM
Gel to prevent sex and the resulting pregnancy. I'm thinking gels can be too slippery. Think outside the box (literally maybe)
If you just want to prevent sex I'm thinking a nice collection of linux install CDs might work (I had a girlfriend who picked one up and asked what those guys sound like, I was tempted to cat /zImage > /dev/audio0 and let her find out). Some Dungeons and Dragons rulebooks used to work pretty well in "the old days", although I was greatly cheered up at the time by Jack Chick tracts that claimed DnD led inevitably to promiscuous teen sex, I should have returned either the rulebooks or the Chick tracts for a refund. Ham radio license is like 50:50. "Hey baby, wanna see my extra class ham radio license?" How about US Army official issue "birth control glasses"?
once injected into the tubes
Just reading that, something shriveled up. Stupid big pharma, obviously a man-hater designed that application system. If a guy designed that application system it would be like topical lotion apply daily and rub into skin preferably by female hands. Or it would be a new flavor of beer.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:22PM
Or it would be a new flavor of beer.
Named "safety goggles", tagline something like "now she looks better AND won't get pregnant"
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Wednesday February 08 2017, @04:00PM
To be fair, "injected into the tubes" sounds less bad than "cut the tubs and cauterize the ends".
I'm... still going to pass though.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Gaaark on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:32PM
Just wait til you see the video of the doctor bouncing the bare testicle back and forth in his hands.
EVERYTHING shrivels at that point.
Don't know if its on youtube or not: i watched it on TV.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: -1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @03:27PM
The moment I read "injected," I knew this would fail.
You straight guys have fun. I'm sure before long there will be lots of social messaging from liberals and SJWs telling you that you're a bad person if you don't get the injection.
(Score: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @04:18PM
Dunno why you were modded flamebait. Somebody probably got triggered by "SJW." I'm likewise unaffected for a similar reason. Here are some of my predictions:
- Women will go for the social messaging you indicate while simultaneously continuing to discourage each other from taking a temporary pill.
- Feminists will argue for the most absurd reasons that this procedure shouldn't be covered by health insurance while screeching that their pill needs to be covered. Probably something to do with that old, tired "ur all raepists" thing.
- I will continue to be befuddled as to why anybody would date a woman.
- Any failure of this contraceptive will result in 100% liability for the unfortunate guy, probably winding up with him in prison over child support.
- Women will find ways to cause this procedure to fail. They already engage in enough deceptive shit to try to trick guys into being on the hook for child support.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @04:22PM
I should add since there are so many brainwashed fools out there: anybody who thinks for a damned second that women really want abortion legal is, well, a brainwashed fool. They want abortion to be illegal for the precise reason that they have everything to gain and the guy has everything to lose when one of them gets pregnant.
Don't let the outward lies feminists blather on about mislead. Hell, the vast majority of their arrogant bigotry is rooted in the fact that they carry the child. Just watch. It's only a matter of time until women are no longer needed for reproduction. You would think that's something women would want, eh? Nope! They will do everything to prevent such a thing from coming about.
(Score: 4, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:58PM
You almost make it sound like all women are the same. You do realize, they are as different as men are? Like you and me. You're some kind of blathering douche, who doesn't much like women. I'm just an asocial asshole who happens to like women most of the time. See how very different we are? If you could see how different women are, you might actually find one you could like. Good luck finding one who could like you though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @09:10PM
You heard it here first folks, occasionally Runaway swings both ways!
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 08 2017, @11:02PM
I'm more surprised he admitted to being an asocial asshole, honestly...
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:21PM
Don't worry, you're never gonna get laid anyway.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:26PM
Yeah that insult lost its meaning in the 60s.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @05:50AM
Yeah that insult lost its meaning in the 60s.
As Cubancigar10 should know more than most, yes, this is true. Now it means going both ways between species! On the one side, humans (both genders), and on the other, well, was it not the great state of Arkansas that gave us the phrase: "Squeal like a pig!" So I would not insinuate anything about Runaway's proclivities, but he did admit to animal husbandry in the past, if not ongoing; and he has hinted as working as a truck driver, and we all know what goes on in the sleeper units of big rigs with small hands. My point is, I think, that for moral reasons, we should not let Runaway1965 get an abortion, because the life up in his wahoo is more important than he is. Yes, sacrifice the Trucker if you must, but save the truckling. Abortionists are making money off of truckers, so I say, we should make trucking illegal!! Not politically correct, and I am sure all you SJWs will mod me down, that only means that what I say is true! Runaway! I want to have your babies!!!!
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:28PM
Not the op ac btw.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:59PM
It will never lose its force, sorry. Some things are so basic to human biology they'll be as powerful as ever until biology itself changes. 10 gets you 1 OP-AC is, and describes himself as, an "incel."
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:31PM
Offense is taken, not given. Individuals who realize this can get to the point where even the most try-hard repugnants merely come across as pitiful.
That is, evocative of pity.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday February 09 2017, @07:19AM
Yeah... umm... getting laid is the easiest thing in the world right now, so...
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 09 2017, @08:02AM
That so? Shame. It's not something people should do lightly. Then again, I'm coming at this from a woman's perspective so *shrug* There's some truth to the old U-Haul joke.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday February 09 2017, @03:34PM
Woman's perspective, what's that like? There is no biological difference between man and women and all the difference is because of patriarchy and it HATES women and it doesn't involve government funding, judiciary, media, academia, healthcare services etc. Those are just compensating for the patriarchy. The real patriarchy is "i won't have sex from a woman's patriarchy" being insult to a man and "i won't have sex from a man's perspective" being insult to a man. Or something like that, isn't it?
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 09 2017, @06:53PM
What the fuck does that even mean? That was incoherent, aggrieved whining.
I've never been one of those morons who thinks biology has no bearing on behavior. That's somewhere between naive and willfully stupid. IIRC statistics show straight and gay women have about the same number of partners; its the gay guys who have waaaaay more than any other group. There's something biological at work here. And you've really never heard the U-Haul joke before?
"Q: What does a lesbian do on the second date?"
"A: She drives up in a moving van with all her stuff!"
Now obviously this is hyperbole, but i *do* find I couldn't tell you when my girlfriend (and my ex girlfriend) and I went from really close friends who do everything together to explicitly being in love, and by that point it almost feels like having been married anyway.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:35AM
Not the op ac btw.
Of course it is, cuban, you little pig-fucker you! Just saying. Did you know that there are venereal diseases that can be transmitted between barnyard animals and humans? I hope you are using "protection". Also, illegal in most jurisdictions, like keeping marmots in the city limits. Dude. F'ing Nihilists.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Thursday February 09 2017, @03:26PM
hehe. Now you know that when people use motherfucker and sisterfucker they are not misogynist, right?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:41PM
You're homosexual as well, right? Right back at you. I need a woman like a fish needs a bicycle. But maybe you need a good man in your life.
(Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:54PM
I've got some good men in my life :) Just...not my bed.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:06PM
Oh look, a deplorable.
(Score: 4, Funny) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:39PM
I will continue to be befuddled as to why anybody would date a woman.
Because they're squishy? Seriously though - sounds like you may have been rode hard and put away wet.
The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
(Score: 2, Redundant) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:53PM
Not to worry - straight white males are already evil people, no matter what we do or don't do. There's no point in letting them shove a needle full of jello up my penis to convince them differently. Just look at the SIZE of the huge assed needle - it's bigger than most penises! (cue my obsessive admirer to make some comments here)
(Score: 2, Disagree) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:09PM
There's no point in letting them shove a needle full of jello up my penis to convince them differently.
The point, good sir, is to convince them that you're both evil *and* kinky.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:57PM
(cue my obsessive admirer to make some comments here)
No comment. No admirers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 08 2017, @04:10PM
I assume that it was necessary to obtain from the primates, semen samples to do sperm count and quality analysis during these studies.
So now I'm curious. How was that done? Do the primates learn to eject it into a sample cup? Who teaches them that trick? Or are the samples obtained in some other way?
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by slinches on Wednesday February 08 2017, @04:45PM
As far as I'm aware, no samples were taken. They put the male monkeys they treated in an enclosure with female monkeys for a couple of years and checked to verify that didn't result in any new monkeys.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:28PM
That is at best an indirect indication of whether the treatment was successful.
Potential sources of error:
* subject monkeys too stressed after procedure to copulate
* subject monkeys not attracted to female monkeys in the enclosure
* subject monkeys not attracted to any female monkeys whether or not in the enclosure
* female monkeys in the enclosure unable to conceive
* female monkeys in the enclosure not attracted to male monkey
* female monkeys in the enclosure not attracted to any male monkeys
* female monkeys not interested in a male that has been experimented upon
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:00PM
* female monkeys not interested in a male that has been experimented upon
That's probably it. The gel smells like rotting meat, and the females don't want rotten sausage inserted into their vaginas. Makes sense to me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:17PM
They filled out surveys, on the Internet.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:33PM
How would the monkeys have information about their fertility status in order to correctly fill out an internet survey? The monkeys would be aware that internet surveys require answers of the highest quality and accuracy because of the level of trust that so many place upon internet survey results.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 3, Funny) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:04PM
They already considered this -- they used specially-bred 'survey monkeys' [surveymonkey.com] to ascertain the survey results were accurate.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by iamjacksusername on Wednesday February 08 2017, @05:48PM
I have been following this since it was called RISUG and it was just a news blurb about an Indian scientist. This is something that really drives me crazy. Vasalgel is a game-changer; it gives men an equivalent control over their reproductive choices as women but it nobody seems interested in marketing it. They had to get grants to just find the studies. The Gates Foundation turned them down because "it was not something they were focused on". This is something that will absolutely shake up the status quo.
52% of pregnancies in the US are unplanned [wikipedia.org]. This is not the same as unwanted but it does go to show at least one of the parties involved was not planning on it. With Vasagel, men would have to make an affirmative decision to produce offspring. I do not think it is out of turn to say that the pregnancy rate will drop as well as abortion rate.
In the short term, I think it will change the tone and tenor of reproductive rights debate. I think abortion, as a political football, will fall by the wayside as the number of abortions fall. The state could make it like a vaccine: every boy, once he turns 13, can get a free Vasagel injection. That alone would contribute a lot to ending the poverty cycle of teen pregnancies, where poor teenagers have children and then their own children have children as teenagers.
Vasagel has the power to fundamentally re-shape society, fertility, dating and family planning much in the same way that hormonal birth control changed things for women. I think it is a great development and the fact that they are having such a hard time getting traction to bring it to market drives me nuts. This is something that should have been available 10 years ago.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:33PM
There might not be investors because they might simply not see an adequate market. Condoms are a very cheap substitute (that also prevents STDs) and the market share taken from vasectomies might not be large enough to pay for the clinical trials.
A costly and invasive procedure, like the one described, might have trouble making money and it seems like it would be an uphill battle on the political side (due to STD concerns, historical forced sterilization, and the perceived endorsement of sexual activity).
(Score: 2) by iamjacksusername on Wednesday February 08 2017, @08:41PM
That's absolutely correct; no pharma wants to fund a new drug that is a one-time use per person per lifetime. There is not enough money in it. That's why Parsemus is set up as a social venture corporation. There is not a lot of long-term private profit in this; it is a "social good."
(Score: 2) by compro01 on Thursday February 09 2017, @11:15AM
Condoms are a very cheap substitute
Condoms are at present the only option for men. Compared to this, they have a vastly higher failure rate (18% per year vs. sub-1% if it's as effective as a normal vasectomy), you need to actually use them, and there's the age old complaints of reduced sensation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @01:37PM
I didn't specify, but I meant the business definition of substitute:
Different goods that, at least partly, satisfy the same needs of the consumers and, therefore, can be used to replace one another. Price of such goods shows positive cross-elasticity of demand
(Score: 5, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday February 08 2017, @06:39PM
I think abortion, as a political football, will fall by the wayside as the number of abortions fall.
Unfortunately, we've observed this to not be the case.
U.S. Abortion Rate Falls To Lowest Level Since Roe v. Wade [npr.org]
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:14PM
That alone would contribute a lot to ending the poverty cycle of teen pregnancies, where poor teenagers have children and then their own children have children as teenagers.
This reminds me of the opening scene of Idiocracy. *Both* families. Neither of those scenarios sounded particularly appealing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:42PM
Men are driven to spread their seed. Maybe the number of guys who want to block their little swimmers with injected gel is smaller than you think. Rationalize all you want, but things like life, death, and procreation have another dimension.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday February 08 2017, @08:16PM
Yes, men are driven to spread their seed. But humans invest heavily in raising offspring. Men also have an incentive to not have to pay for all of the potential children they create. Thus they may pair up with one partner and invest in the fruits of that, yet also have affairs as opportunities to spread their seed without having to deal with any consequences of that. (Not that it doesn't sometimes catch up with them.)
Off topic, but women have an affair because they want both the best genes for their offspring, as well as the best resources for their offspring. So a younger woman may be a mistress for an older man in exchange for resources. Or an older wealthier woman may have an affair with a younger man to get better genes.
Despite the drive to spread their seed, (some, few?) men have an intellect. They may want to do the spreading frequently without any possibility of conception, and retain careful control of when the spreading of seed can result in conception. This is not rocket surgery.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @02:50AM
Men are driven to have sex, not spread their seed. They will have sex just fine with infertile women, young women, and other men. This contraceptive gel takes power away from women. Holes in condoms or swiped semen are not going to work with this method. This circumvents the vast bias of the state towards giving women child custody and alimony. It is also reversible. If you oppose this method of birth control beyond questioning its effectiveness, cost, or health impact, then your motives are suspect.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Azuma Hazuki on Thursday February 09 2017, @07:00PM
LOL. This lesbian feminist is all for it. It sounds odd, but I want to see this idiot war between the sexes end already. Ironically, not having to play the hetero mating game lets me get some outside, cooler-headed perspective, and ends with more sympathy for Y-chromosome-bearers than you might expect. IMO the real man-haters are straight girls since they have to deal with being naturally attracted to guys.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by q.kontinuum on Thursday February 09 2017, @11:18PM
then your motives are suspect
Is "religious" a subsection of suspect, or did you just miss religious?
Registered IRC nick on chat.soylentnews.org: qkontinuum
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @08:13PM
It will be interesting to see how US culture reacts to birth control once it's something that's available to men. But IUDs [wikipedia.org] (extremely effective, long lasting, zero-effort after initial install birth control) already exist for women and offering them for free to teens [nytimes.com] has been tried to great success (40% lower teen birthrate, 42% lower teen abortion rate in a trial in Colorado), but there's been a lot of conservative push-back over expanding the program. Once it involves men and women, that might change, but I wouldn't be so sure. But the problem being overcome isn't the technical one of developing effective birth control, it's the cultural one of misogyny.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @01:50AM
You do realize blocking the expression of sperm eventually causes the immune system to see all sperm as threats and causes the male to become sterile? Letting every 13 year old get the injection would be an excellent way to obliterate the population in a couple generations.
Plus the blockage does nothing against STDs. Well see those skyrocket with better male-based birth control.
I agree that it's worth developing, but it's not as great as it looks on the surface. And I don't see any studies of them adding then removing, then adding, then removing, then adding, then removing the plug. How effective is it with constant switches? Will that matter? You can be sure some people will be constantly transitioning.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @01:30PM
AIUI, this particular procedure doesn't block the expression of sperm, only their inclusion in ejaculate. Sperm will still be created in the testes, they'll just only be able to swim around in circles before getting reabsorbed, or whatever it is sperms do after retirement.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 09 2017, @09:02PM
By expression I was referring to ejaculation, sorry if I wasn't clear on that. Sperm always getting reabsorbed eventually turns the immune system against them. That's why vasectomies aren't always reversible. Though to be fair I don't know how long it takes nor with what percentage of people it occurs in, I only know that it happens.
(Score: 3, Funny) by wonkey_monkey on Wednesday February 08 2017, @07:28PM
This was nothing to do with me. I'm wonkey_monkey, not wankey_monkey.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday February 08 2017, @10:21PM
You will never need birth control.
(Score: 2) by chewbacon on Thursday February 09 2017, @04:09PM
This drug doesn't block the vasdeferens per se. When sperm comes into contact with it, they die. There is concern about long term issues with exposure in humans. Time will tell, but my balls aren't worth it!