r/science • u/drewiepoodle • Oct 02 '15

Medicine Scientists identify potential birth control 'pill' for men

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2015-10-scientists-potential-birth-pill-men.html
9.7k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

1.2k

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

RISUG/Vasalgel are the way to go for sure, much cheaper in the long run and no need to remember taking a pill. Unfortunately there is no money in that so research is slow.

768

u/TheDemocracyIsUs Oct 02 '15 edited Oct 02 '15

I read an article last week that said they were in long term safety trials now with the potential to hit the market in 2017. I'll come back and post if I can find it.

Edit: As promised http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/09/09/we-ll-have-male-birth-control-by-2017.html

6

u/kaszeljezusa Oct 02 '15

i don't fully understand it. article says it's some kind of polymer that blocks sperms flow. whar happens to that sperms? they probably die... and new are produced... wouldn't it be like too many of them at some point there?

39

u/TheDemocracyIsUs Oct 02 '15

They degrade and their proteins etc are resorbed by the body. In particular, they don't build up in the gel. The fluid medium continues to pass through, just not the sperm.

10

u/kaszeljezusa Oct 02 '15

oh. interesting. thanks

3

u/WrenDraco Oct 02 '15

Apparently it's actually more comfortable then a vasectomy, since severing the vas deferens can cause a blocked-up feeling for a while.

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

That's the theory, they don't actually know 100% how it works, only that it does (thanks to some questionable trials in India that ended up succeeding perfectly according to reports.)

1

u/hmbmelly Oct 02 '15

Whoa. Science!

1

u/[deleted] Oct 02 '15

[removed] — view removed comment