Monday, 7 September 2015

MALE CONTRACEPTIVE AVAILABLE WITHIN THREE YEARS - BUT THE WAY TO USE IT IS PAINFUL

It's been in the pipeline for a number of years but the male contraceptive could be on the market in as little as three years - for those willing to wince when they get it.

Researchers have been searching for an infallible pregnancy preventer that males can use for four decades - but it has never been brought to market.

Now scientists have created a synthetic gel that is injected into the testicles.

Those behind the long-acting, non-hormonal contraceptive say its significant advantage over the traditional vasectomy is that is reversible and non invasive.

Now it could very well becoming to a doctor's surgery near you after testing began on primates.

Medics swap their scalpels for a needle and inject the gel into the 'vas deferens,' the tube the sperm swim through, rather than cutting.
Once the gel is inside the tube, it filters out the sperm but does not stop the man from ejaculating.

And the San Francisco-based team says if a man wishes to restore flow of sperm, even after just a couple of months that the polymer called Vasalgel is flushed out using a sodium bicarbonate solution.

Aaron Hamlin, executive of the Male Contraceptive Initiative, told Vice: "There's nothing for you as a person to screw up.

"When you have a method that doesn't require you to do anything, like Vasalgel, you get the injection into the vas deferens and walk out the door.

"After all that's done, when it's time for you to have sex, everything you've had to do is already done."

The initiative has been part financed by crowd funding and is being supported by a US non-profit called the Parsemus Foundation rather than a large pharmaceutical company.

And the organisation - which is also researching non hormonal breast cancer prevention techniques - say if trials are a success that it could be on the market soon.

The website says: "Human trials are expected to start in 2016 and 2017.

"If everything goes well and with enough public support, we hope to get Vasalgel on the market as early as 2018."

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