Pill for man

The male pill is a colloquial term for a hormonal contraceptive method for men. An oral contraceptive (pill) is currently not available. Intensive research into the approval of an anti-baby syringe for men was carried out until mid-2011 . After the termination of a corresponding WHO project in August 2011, it is questionable to what extent this research will be continued and completed in the future.

state of development

The term pill for men is not entirely correct, because the originally announced back in 2005 and then for 2009, preparation of a combination of a progestin - implant and regular testosterone - injections should be. This combination influences the hypothalamus - pituitary - testes control loop and thus suppresses the production of sperm . Testosterone is destroyed during the gastrointestinal passage. All attempts to produce a synthetic testosterone derivative in an effective tablet form have so far been unsuccessful. Research into the maturation of epididymis sperm and its possible inhibition is still in the early stages of development. In June 2007 the pharmaceutical companies Bayer AG and Organon announced that they had stopped research on the project. The market launch of a product for men that is comparable to the contraceptive pill is currently a long way off. Currently (2018) no well-known company is researching male contraception.

From 2009 to 2011, however, studies were running the World Health Organization to accomplishing testosterone - substitution -based method , also as an injection. These were canceled in August 2011, as around 10% of the subjects complained of side effects such as depression. This means that the chances of a successful market launch soon are considered too low.

The British journalist Clint Witchalls describes his experiences during a clinical test with the implant injection treatment in his book "The Pill and Me". He reports severe side effects, both physical and psychological, the latter especially in connection with the testosterone injections.

However, the evaluation of the side effects is controversial. On the occasion of the termination of the WHO study, for example, the journalist Julia Seeliger criticized in the taz that two standards are measured here for women and men: while symptoms such as depression and mood swings are considered acceptable for women as a side effect of the pill, this is not for men the case.

Research into an active ingredient that was originally developed for the treatment of skin diseases could be promising. By blocking the retinoic acids necessary for the production of sperm , the first successes have already been reported in animal experiments.

Furthermore, an extract of the plant Gendarussa ( Justicia gendarussa ), which grows in Indonesia and India , has been researched since 1985 . The leaves of the plant have been used by men in tea form for contraception in certain tribes in New Guinea for centuries.

The active ingredient does not intervene hormonally in reproduction, but only weakens a certain enzyme that is responsible for allowing a sperm to penetrate the woman's egg cell. The substance, isolated at the University of Airlangga in Surabaya, Indonesia, was already tested on humans in 3 clinical studies between 2010 and 2012, with outstanding success (99% contraception rate), and with hardly any side effects (possibly slight weight gain, stronger libido). Several days after the intake is stopped, the sources contradict each other in the exact duration, normal fertility should be restored.

The Indonesian government is currently endeavoring to obtain approval for the substance as part of its National Population and Family Planning Board (BKKBN), and the state-owned pharmaceutical company Indofarma will soon be producing mass-produced goods for the Indonesian market (probably 2016). The government hopes that it could have a not inconsiderable effect on the birth rate in Indonesia, which, like its neighbors, is struggling with major demographic problems. It is not known when Gendarussa will be available outside Indonesia, the lengthy drug approval processes in the EU and USA suggest a period of 10+ years.

literature

• Determinants of the Rate and Extent of Spermatogenic Suppression during Hormonal Male Contraception: An Integrated Analysis [Internationales Autorenkollektiv], In: The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism , Vol. 93, no. 5, pp. 1774-1783, doi : 10.1210 / jc.2007-2768
• Michael Zitzmann: Hormonal contraception in men: still relevant. Der Urologe 49, 2009, pp. 16-19
• Eberhard Nieschlag , Hermann M. Behre: Approaches to hormonal male contraception. In: Nieschlag, Behre, Nieschlag: Andrology. Basics and Clinic of Male Reproductive Health. 3rd edition, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-92962-8 , pp. 595-606
• Clint Wittchalls: The pill and me. Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek 2007

Web links

• Man thing - it exists. It works. The need is undisputed. Then why doesn't it exist, the pill for men? on brandeins.de
• Contraception: Progress on the pill for men on deutschlandfunk.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Luise Strothmann: The pill for men: There's something else to come . In: The daily newspaper: taz . August 22, 2018, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed on August 28, 2018]).
2. ↑ The "pill" for men. Interview with Prof. Michael Zittmann, Deutsche Welle June 22, 2009
3. ↑ "Pill for men" makes you depressed. Report in the Tagesspiegel from August 8, 2011
4. ↑ Swallow, march, march! Comment from Julia Seeliger in the taz, August 1, 2011
5. ↑ Contraception method for men: inhibitor prevents sperm production. In: Spiegel Online . June 6, 2011, accessed June 10, 2018 . 
6. ↑ Patrick Winn: Indonesia's birth control pill for men , GlobalPost . February 27, 2011. Retrieved March 2, 2011. 
7. ↑ Indonesian Plant Shows Promise for Male Birth Control PBS NewsHour , July 20, 2011
8. ↑ Indonesia is about to start producing a male birth control pill that will change the world . In: Coconuts Jakarta , November 24, 2014. Retrieved February 3, 2015. 
9. ↑ Pill for men: contraception without a hormone cocktail . In: Redaktion PraxisVITA , June 30, 2017. Retrieved August 15, 2020. 
10. ↑ Indonesia's new male birth control pill is '99 percent effective . December 3, 2014. Retrieved September 29, 2015. 
11. ↑ Parsemus Foundation .: Gandarusa . 2014. Archived from the original on September 30, 2015 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved September 29, 2015.  

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