Men could soon be able to get a contraceptive that involves just one injection, has a 97 per cent success rate and lasts for 13 years.
The system is ready to go, if the inventor can find a company willing to take it on, and involves one injection into the scrotum.
The male birth control has now successfully completed a clinical trial at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), reports The Mirror.
Speaking to Hindustan Times , Dr R.S Sharma, a senior scientist with the ICMR, said: “The product is ready, with only regulatory approvals pending [from the government].
“The trials are over, including extended, Phase 3 clinical trials for which 303 candidates were recruited with a 97.3% success rate and no reported side effects. The product can safely be called the world’s first male contraceptive.”
The system works by injecting a polymer called styrene malieic anhydride into the vas deferent - the two ducts that carry sperm out of the testicles and which are cut in a vasectomy.
The polymer blocks sperm from leaving the testicles, and the effect can last for up to 13 years.
Professor S.K Guha, a scientist from the Indian Institute of Technology, said: “The polymer was developed by Professor S.K. Guha from the Indian Institute of Technology in the 1970s. ICMR has been researching on it to turn it into a product for mass use since 1984, and the final product is ready after exhaustive trials.”
The product could be available within seven months.
But a recent survey by YouGov revealed only one in three men would be willing to take male birth control.
Researchers from the Los Angeles Biomed Research Institute have developed a male birth control pill that’s now been successfully tested in healthy men.
Based on the findings, the researchers believe that the pill could be widely available ‘in about 10 years.’
