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Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

popsci.com

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Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#51

Post by FalconSensei »

aeturnum wrote: post #20
bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

More options are always better. It's common that hormonal birth control won't work for someone, so it's great that we are creating more configurations. You're also correct that the person who is going to get pregnant is the more invested party and the one who is going to suffer the consequences from improper preparations.

> You're also correct that the person who is going to get pregnant is the more invested party and the one who is going to suffer the consequences from improper preparations.

Depending on the country/state you are in. If abortion is legalized, you can do that. And then, if you know you won't get an abortion either because local regulations forbid, or it goes against your beliefs, then you have to weight in your risks and make your decisions, like combining birth control methods for example.

Now, in places where abortion is legalized, women are the only ones with the power to stop the pregnancy, and the guy needs to face their decision. They can't bail (at least, financially)

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#52

Post by FalconSensei »

hibikir wrote: post #34
bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

Other than condoms, birth control (used mostly as birth control, not as menstrual regulation) is mostly relegated to trusting long term relationships already: STDs exist. So whether this is better or worse than the pill for women engaging in casual sex is probably not all that big of a deal: If you are trusting someone's recent STD panel results, you are still putting quite a bit of trust in them. Now, saying there a…

> here's a non insignificant percentage of women that have serious side effects with hormonal birth control: Mood changes and reduced sex drive are crippling, if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in that category. Surgical approaches aren't great if you see a possibility of wanting to change your mind later.

absolutely agreed, If there are pills and procedures for both sides, whoever has bad side effects (or risks for a surgery) can opt-out, and the other partner will do it. Or both can combine, decreasing the risk of pregnancy even more

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#53

Post by henriquez »

xscott wrote: post #14
4oo4 wrote: post #5

There I think are a number of viable male birth control options already, but most of them never come to market. This is because it's nearly impossible to get men to invest in preventing the risk of pregnancy. Aside from condoms, unfortunately the vast majority of heterosexual men are programmed to offload that risk mitigation onto women.

I'm not sure where you get your information, but it feels like you have some other axe to grind.. Nearly every single man in my circle of friends has gotten a vasectomy. Several of us knew we never wanted children and would've gotten a vasectomy in our 20s if doctors would approve it.

I just exclusively started having anal sex with dudes. It works wonders for preventing pregnancy and I usually don’t even need to buy them dinner first.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#54

Post by henriquez »

jjtheblunt wrote: post #22
4oo4 wrote: post #5

There I think are a number of viable male birth control options already, but most of them never come to market. This is because it's nearly impossible to get men to invest in preventing the risk of pregnancy. Aside from condoms, unfortunately the vast majority of heterosexual men are programmed to offload that risk mitigation onto women.

or has society (western anyway) for decades offloaded that risk mitigation onto women, so there's momentum to the asymmetry and new adults join an asymmetry already assumed?

No I think actually most guys would prefer not to pay child support, but sure, let’s blame men for everything anyway in a thread about contraceptive options.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#55

Post by confidantlake »

bufbupa wrote: post #12

The problem with male birth control pills is that it's the women who bear the bulk of the risk/responsibility when it comes to pregnancy. If a woman says "trust me, i'm on the pill" and lies -- they're the ones that get pregnant and likely get stuck raising the kid. Sure the father might be on the hook financially, but if the woman lied about their birth control and went forward with the pregnancy anyway it's not abs…

I don't understand this take. If a woman doesn't want a kid she can get an abortion. If a man doesn't want a kid he better hope the woman feels the same or he is screwed. Women have almost all the power in this situation.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#56

Post by TSiege »

janitha wrote: post #39
TSiege wrote: post #36

Is there any reason that the medical industry is pushing medicinal therapies to prevent pregnancy when a very promising procedure called vasalgel is just hanging on the vine? It is 1) highly effective, 2) non-hormonal/non-medicinal just a minor injection into the vas deferens 3) long lasting and reversible 4) dirt cheap. It's mind boggling how this has been able to progress beyond animal trials even though it's perfo…

Profitability? A cheap one time procedure (ie. vasalgel) is far less lucrative than a pill that need to be bought repeatedly.

This has been my assumption as well. You'd think this would be a project the Gates foundation would jump on though

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#57

Post by akvadrako »

tcj_phx wrote: post #50

This problem is solved, just not in pill form. There's an old solution that allows men to reduce their sperm count, down to an effective-zero: raise the temperature of the testicles to be body temperature. In ancient times bread bakers were known to not father as many children, until they stopped working the ovens. The heat shock protein disrupts sperm production for longer periods of time. HSP forms at 104 degrees,…

Sounds like playing demanding games with a laptop on your lap would also work.

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#58

Post by 4oo4 »

insickness wrote: post #10
4oo4 wrote: post #5

There I think are a number of viable male birth control options already, but most of them never come to market. This is because it's nearly impossible to get men to invest in preventing the risk of pregnancy. Aside from condoms, unfortunately the vast majority of heterosexual men are programmed to offload that risk mitigation onto women.

You underestimate most mens' willingness to avoid pregnancy. To a lot of men, there are few things more horrific than getting the wrong woman pregnant and being saddled with 18 years of child support payments and the ethical burden of 18 years of child-rearing.

Personally, I am a heterosexual male that would 100% take this if it's available, not sure why I was downvoted.

This isn't my personal opinion, I am actually just stating the opinion of pharmaceutical companies. If you search for male birth control, you'll see lots of stories like this over the past 5-10 years. So you need to ask yourself why there aren't any that we can currently go to our doctor for? The science is there but attitudes and market research are not.

We are a conscientious bunch here and not representative of the general population, sadly. Or at least, that's how pharmaceutical companies perceive that, and until that is successfully challenged I don't think any of these will be viable in a commercial sense, even if they are in a scientific one.

    Early trials of male hormonal birth control, usually in the form of injections, have shown that drugs are effective in preventing pregnancy, but pharmaceutical companies show little interest in developing or marketing them. But another obstacle is the unwillingness of men to endure the drug’s side-effects, and of the medical establishment to permit a drug with side-effects similar to those of women’s birth control from being given to men.
I would be really curious how the side-effects compare to female birth control, which are already pretty bad to begin with, and we just expect women to put up with.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/05/male-b...

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#59

Post by TSiege »

Karawebnetwork wrote: post #45
TSiege wrote: post #36

Is there any reason that the medical industry is pushing medicinal therapies to prevent pregnancy when a very promising procedure called vasalgel is just hanging on the vine? It is 1) highly effective, 2) non-hormonal/non-medicinal just a minor injection into the vas deferens 3) long lasting and reversible 4) dirt cheap. It's mind boggling how this has been able to progress beyond animal trials even though it's perfo…

> reversible But requires a visit to the doctor. While a pill can simply be stopped at any time to achieve a pregnancy. In my opinion, the idea of eating a "magic pills" is easier to swallow than the idea of "injecting cement into a pipe". One adds to your body, the other modifies it (if ever slihtly).

I know several women who have used IUDs or implanted birth control. Vasalgel is like an IUD except its not a painful procedure. If a man wants to take a pill that tampers with his bodies normal biological functions go ahead, but I'd prefer a non painful approach that I can use for 5 years without thinking about it and get it set up and removed in maybe 2 hours total?

Re: Birth control pill for men could begin human trials later this year

#60

Post by 4oo4 »

Femtio wrote: post #13
4oo4 wrote: post #5

There I think are a number of viable male birth control options already, but most of them never come to market. This is because it's nearly impossible to get men to invest in preventing the risk of pregnancy. Aside from condoms, unfortunately the vast majority of heterosexual men are programmed to offload that risk mitigation onto women.

You could have spend time in actually looking things up. Wikipedia does not have any approved and working method as easy as a pill on it. Also the pill is not that easy for woman either. Don't put us man all in a bucket. You are not helping mitigating stereotypes

You could have also looked up all the available male birth control options that have been successfully developed and never sold within the last 5-10 years.

https://googlethatforyou.com?q=male%20birth%20control

Wikipedia is not the sole source of truth.

You are misidentifying me as either a misogynist and/or man-hater, please see my clarification.

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