Birth Control For Men: New Gel Injection Prevents Pregnancy

An injectable male birth control invented by a 76-year-old biomedical engineer could be on its way to the market soon, making it the first new contraceptive for males in more than a century. Invented by Sujoy Guha, a university professor in rural India, the shot of polymer gel has shown a 98 percent effectiveness rate at preventing pregnancy without any severe side effects.

Upon injection, the positively charged gel damages negatively charged sperm, causing them to become infertile. Unlike birth control pills, the injection prevents pregnancy with just a single use, rendering it cheaper and more efficient than other forms of contraception available. While it has roughly the same effectiveness as condoms and is entirely reversible with a second injection that destroys the gel, Guha hasn’t been able to get any major pharmaceutical companies interested in the technology, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.

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“The fact that the big companies are run by white, middle-aged males who have the same feeling – that they would never do it – plays a major role,” Herjan Coelingh Bennink, a gynecology professor who helped developed the contraceptives Implanon and Cerazette, told Bloomberg Wednesday. “If those companies were run by women, it would be totally different.”

The lack of interest from big pharmaceutical companies has sent the technology’s evolution on a different route. The Parsemus Foundation, a non-profit based in the United States, picked up the injection for testing in the U.S. In February. The organization reported that it effectively prevented pregnancy in rhesus monkeys for more than a year, making it a likely contender for a mainstream male contraceptive method.

“Why should the burden be borne by the female only?” Guha told Bloomberg. “There has to be an equal partnership.”

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There is evidence Guha’s injection would be welcomed by couples seeking birth control. In India, it is often difficult for both men and women to get contraceptive surgeries like vasectomies due to a lack of time and money, while social stigma surrounding condom use keeps it to less than six percent, according to Bloomberg. In addition, 20 percent of couples rely on some sort of male birth control to prevent pregnancy, according to a survey by the Parsemus Foundation, and half of the men surveyed said they’d be open to trying new male contraceptive methods.