Experimental cancer drug makes mice infertile without side effects, scientists claim male birth control discovery
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Prescription drugs that lead double lives
Sperm gene discovery may lead to male birth control, scientists say
Scientists had been researching a small molecular compound called JQ1, which was meant to block a cancer-causing gene called "BRD4." The compound had previously been shown effective in staving off lung cancer and blood cancers, like leukemia and multiple myeloma, in earlier studies.
Part of the problem with finding a male birth control pill is the challenge of getting a drug across the blood-testis barrier. Just like the blood-brain barrier regulates what cells and compounds come in and out of the brain, the blood-testis barrier physically separates blood vessels and the sperm-producing seminiferous tubules that are found in the testes.
That's when Dr. James Bradner, an oncology researcher at the Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston who had been researching JQ1, wanted to see if the molecule was small enough to cross the blood-testis barrier. He was curious if the compound would affect the BRDT sperm-producing gene associated with that family of proteins he'd been researching for cancer. He called Dr. Martin M. Matzuk, director of the new Center for Drug Discovery and a fertility scientist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and supplied him with JQ1 to begin experimentation.
Matzuk and his colleagues figured out the appropriate amount of the compound to use, then injected mice with a solution over an 18-month period. They saw that the mice had lower overall sperm counts and a decrease in sperm mobility, rendering them infertile but leaving their hormone levels intact. The compound also did not decrease sex drive in mice allowing them to mate normally, nor did it cause other side effects that a hormone-based therapy may cause.
When mice were no longer given the compound, their sperm production went back to normal levels and they were able to have offspring.
The research is published online August 17 in Cell.
"These findings suggest that a reversible, oral male contraceptive may be possible," Bradner said in a written statement. "While we will be conducting more research to see if we can build on our current findings, JQ1 shows initial promise as a lead compound for male contraception."
While there are several male birth control methods in development including a gel and sperm-zapping ultrasound, condoms and vasectomies remain the only reliable options for men.
"My hope is within the next 10 years, there will be a drug on the market for men," Matzuk said in an interview with U.S. News & World Report. "There have been some pharmaceutical studies that have gone from having a target [like we do] to having FDA approval within six years. I don't see any reason why this can't be one of them."
And why not? Several other drugs started out as other treatments before scientists discovered other therapeutic benefits. Viagra, a pill for treating erectile dysfunction, was originally studied for treating heart-related chest pains before discovering a surprising side effect. The male pattern baldness drug Propecia originally started out as Proscar, a drug that treated enlarged prostates.
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You say "taking responsibility" like a couple should only use one form of BC. A man taking this type of drug doesn't prevent a woman from also using existing forms of contraception. (The only forms of contraception that I don't think can be stacked are condoms with other condoms.)
So now a couple can use female BC (pill or injection), male BC (pill or injection), spermicide, a condom. Female BC is 99.99% effective? Condoms are 99% (1% breakage chance)? Spermicide is at least 99%. If male BC is even 90%, that is some great stacking potential. So multiply 0.0001 by .01 by .01, then multiply in a theoretical 10% ineffective rate (another .1).
For me, the decision to take such a pill is to take responsibility for preventing me from releasing viable sperm (or at least trying to release as lazy sperm as possible).
I support a woman's right to choose. But I also support a man's right to choose what leaves his body (after that point our choice is made).
To cityboy85: Condoms are only about 80% effective. You can, in fact, stack them. It's a fairly common practice called "double bagging" and while I don't know that it makes things any safer people still do it. It's entirely possible for a woman to get pregnant while on birth control pills. It's exceedingly unlikely the pregnancy will last but something can start up and will usually end in a miscarriage. Spermacides are also not 100% effective, just like bleach will only kill 99.99% of bacteria on a surface- something might make it through. The only 100% assured ways to prevent a pregnancy (right now, anyway) are a tubal ligation of a vasectomy- these procedures remove the egg or sperm respectively from the equation.