“It smells like Purell it looks like Purell,” he says. The drug, this person wrote, was an experimental form of male birth control-a super-goop that goes on the shoulders and suppresses sperm production.
Mens birth control trial#
He was nervous that a vasectomy might not be reversible, and wasn’t that the only option left to him? Then one day, on Reddit, he saw a post from a guy who claimed to be enrolled in a medical trial for something called NES/T. Yet it was always Caitlin’s body-and hers alone-that had to deal with the ramifications of trying to have sex while trying not to get pregnant. The couple already had one child and agreed they weren’t ready for a second. Seth tried wearing condoms, but they irritated Caitlin’s skin. She’d tried just about every kind of birth control-one prescription after another-but never found one that didn’t cause complications. We’ve barely exchanged pleasantries when Caitlin, 34, starts recounting the years of frustration that brought them here. The Kinasts are sitting in a basement fertility lab at the University of Washington in Seattle, one of 15 sites around the world running the first real-life road test of a groundbreaking male contraceptive gel. “He was super happy, like a teenager again.” She pauses. “His energy was up through the roof,” she says. Whilst financial support is still needed for clinical trials before Coso can launch, progress towards a more gender-balanced approach to pregnancy is hopeful.Caitlin Kinast couldn’t help feeling a bit salty during the 12 months her husband, Seth, was on birth control.
These findings were highlighted to be similar to those concluded by a study published in 2016 in the journal, JAMA Psychiatry, which found an association between the use of female hormonal birth control and depression. Concerns have been raised about this imbalance the contraceptive pill is still on the market despite having serious negative side effects equal to those caused by the male contraceptive pill.
Mens birth control full#
The study however was discontinued in full after they caused side effects such as depression and irregular heartbeat. In 2008, a study co-sponsored by the United Nations found a hormonal birth control shot for men that was effective at preventing pregnancy in female partners.
Pregnancy is a joint responsibility for both parties, however, the effort of prevention often falls more heavily on women. Her next challenge is sourcing financial support for clinical trials so that Coso can be realised as a contraceptive for mainstream use.Įxplore more: Computing and Tech | Architecture and Design Although Coso is only a concept at present, Weiss hopes that it will encourage further research on humans. Taking the matter into her own hands, Weiss decided to develop a new method of male birth control as part of her master’s thesis in Industrial Design at the Technical University in Munich.ĭuring the research period, Weiss discovered that ultrasound contraception was successfully tested on animals in a 2012 study by the Parsemus Foundation, but remains untested on humans. There is also an accompanying app to monitor progress.Īfter being diagnosed with a cervical cancer precursor, Weiss could no longer use hormonal contraceptive methods and soon discovered that options for men were severely lacking. The device is designed for safe, at-home use and is effective two weeks after the first application. The user would then sit for a few minutes with their testicles dipped into the device.Ĭoso uses ultrasound to modify sperm mobility and temporarily inhibit the production of new sperm, meaning that a female egg cannot be fertilized. First, it is filled with water and turned on, at which point it starts heating up until reaching operating temperature. Operating the small bowl-like device is fairly straightforward. Named Coso, the drive has won a James Dyson Award.Ĭoso is a reversible contraceptive solution, similar to an IUD for men in that its effects wear off after a specified time. German design graduate Rebecca Weiss has designed an ultrasound-based, reversible and hormone-free male contraceptive device for home use, which functions by temporarily stopping sperm regeneration. To be precise, there are around 12 female contraceptive methods, ranging from IUDs, the pill to fertility tracking, yet only two options for men: condoms or a permanent vasectomy. Spotted: There are significantly more contraceptive methods available for women compared to men.
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