Birth Control Pill for Men Under Development

An effective birth control method for men may soon become available, researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine, in Seattle, say. The pill in question would be more efficient than a condom, but significantly easier to reverse than a vasectomy.

According to a report published on August 16, the chemical JQI is capable of inducing reversible infertility in male mice, without any discernible side-effects to the rodents or their offspring. Originally, the chemical was developed as an anticancer agent, ScienceNow reports.

The paper, published in the scientific journal Cell, shows that daily JQI injections, applied over a period of three months, led to complete infertility in mice. After only 6 weeks, their sperm count was reduced to just 5 percent.

“If you're taking healthy people in their twenties and giving them a drug, you want to be very sure it doesn’t affect anything else,” comments Columbia University Medical Center reproductive biologist, Debra Wolgemuth, who was not a part of the study.