The number one question we receive from readers is:
“So where can I get one of these male contraceptives?”
The only way to get access to most of these experimental male contraceptives is to participate in a clinical trial. Below is a list of all the medical centers which have tested or are currently testing potential male contraceptives.
How do I participate in a clinical trial?
Begin by contacting the medical center hosting a trial of a method you would like to try. Researchers are generally seeking men between 18 and 50 years of age who are in good overall health. The number and frequency of visits you will be expected to make to a medical center will vary depending on the method being tested. In general, clinical trials last from 6 to 18 months. If the trial is for contraceptive efficacy, you will be expected to forego the use of backup contraception during the data collection period; if it is a proof of concept or dose-finding study, you will expected to provide semen samples.
Trials currently or soon to be enrolling
University of Washington – Male hormonal contraceptive delivered as a transdermal gel
“The purpose of this study is to determine the usefulness of two transdermal gels to be used in the future development for a male contraceptive... The steady-state delivery of a progestin and an androgen by transdermal gel application would be a user-friendly delivery method as compared to injectable or implant approaches. Nestorone (NES) is a synthetic progestin that does not have any androgenic and estrogenic activity and is not expected to have some of the undesirable side effects of other drugs. We propose to evaluate whether NES gel alone or in combination with T gel applied transdermally will result in more effective suppression of gonadotropins than NES or T gel applied alone in healthy men.”
World Health Organization – Male hormonal contraceptive as an injection every 2 months
This trial will take place in 9 clinical trial centers in 8 countries: Italy, Indonesia, the UK, Australia, Germany, India, China (Hong Kong), and Chile. The purpose of this study is to “establish the contraceptive efficacy of a combined androgen + progestogen regimen for male fertility regulation.” Volunteers will receive combined injections of testosterone undecanoate and the progestin NETE for up to one year.
Clinical trial centers by method
Below is a list of the hospitals and clinics that have hosted clinical trials in the past. If one of these centers is near you, practitioners there may be able to help point you to current trials.
Hormonal male contraceptives
- University of Washington Population Center for Research in Reproduction in Seattle, USA
- University of California Los Angeles Harbor Medical Center, USA
- Population Council in New York City, USA
- University of Muenster Hospital’s Institute of Reproductive Medicine, Germany
- University of Bologna Orsola-Malpighi Hospital, Italy
- University of Manchester School of Medicine, UK
- University of Edinburgh Contraceptive Development Network, UK
- Institute of Reproductive Medicine in Santiago, Chile
- ProFamilia in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
- ANZAC Research Institute in Concord, Australia
- Monash Medical Center Prince Henry Institute of Medical Research in Clayton, Australia
- Shanghai Institute for Planned Parenthood Research, China
- Jiangsu Family Planning Research Institute, China
- Schering AG Gynaecology and Andrology Division in Berlin, Germany
- NV Organon International
RISUG
- 3 centers in the All India Institute of Medical Science’s network, India
Intra Vas Device
- Four US centers under contract with Shepherd Medical Company in St. Paul and St. Cloud, MN; Shreveport, LA; and Tampa, FL
- Beijing National Research Institute for Family Planning, China
Suspensories
Gossypol
- Federal University of Bahia in Salvador, Brazil
- South-to-South Cooperation in Reproductive Health in Salvador, Brazil
- Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, China
- Beijing National Research Institute for Family Planning, China
- Zhejiang Academy of Medical Sciences, China
- University of Lagos Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nigeria
- University of Ibadan Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nigeria
- Kenya Medical Research Institute in Nairobi, Kenya
- University of Jos Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Nigeria
- Cornell University ’s Weill Medical College in New York, USA
Injected plugs
- Ten centers in the State Family Planning Commission of China network
I don’t live near any of the clinical trial centers. What can I do?
You may decide to take your fertility into your own hands by experimenting with heat methods or over-the-counter pharmaceuticals. If you decide to experiment on yourself, know that no one but you will be liable for contraceptive failures or irreversible infertility. There are other websites which provide accounts of men’s experiences with such undertakings. Educate yourself thoroughly about the risks and unpredictability of your experimentation.
If you decide to use a heat method, you can assess its effectiveness using a semen analysis which includes motility tests. You can expect each set of tests to cost as much as $275 at your local clinic. An over-the-counter semen analysis test for home use may also be available later this year from Virginia-based manufacturer ContraVac, Inc., under the market name SpermCheck I. Currently available over-the-counter sperm count kits do not provide enough information to determine if a heat method is working or not.
Of the two pharmaceutical methods one could try at home – nifedipine and Tripterygium – there is no practical way to measure whether or not they are working. Neither affects the quantity of sperm production or the sperm motility, factors which are measured in standard sperm tests. Much more complicated and expensive tests would be required to determine whether they are working.
If you do not have access to a clinical trial and experimenting at home is not for you, take political action to help bring new male contraceptives to market.
