Male birth control pill under trials

Sydney, February 4: Ladies! Are you tired of being the one in charge of daily contraception? Here’s help. Researchers at the ANZAC Research Institute, at Concord Hospital, Australia, have created what’s called a ‘male pill’.

The pill, a two-monthly male contraceptive injection, will give men full control over their own fertility without deflating their sexuality.

Already through the first phase of trials, the contraceptive jab proved effective in 95 percent men. Mimicking the functioning of the female contraceptive pill, the male pill too shuts down the reproductive function in men.

However, unlike the female pills, it does not play hormone havoc, thus does not affect the men’s sex drive.

Post injection, while the testosterone levels remain normal, the progestin bamboozles the brain into not producing hormonesdefine needed to stimulate sperm production, thus cutting on fertility. Men can, however, regain their lost fertility within three months of being off medication, researchers claim.

Taking up the key concern of deflated sex drive, lead researcher of the study, Professor Rob McLachlan, answered, "the sexual function does not change because your level of testosterone in the blood remains the same."

The drug is now into its second round of testing with researchers requiring nearly 400 couples to join the 18-month trail. The trial will test the effectiveness of the jab as the only form of contraception.

If cleared, men can now choose between condoms, pills and vasectomy, rather than abstinence.