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Posted on Apr 24, 2018, 11 p.m.
New compound has been shown in preclinical trials to immobilizes sperm temporarily without side effects. An oral contraceptive pill for men is underdevelopment, as published in the journal PLOS ONE.
EP055 compound binds to sperm proteins and significantly slows overall sperm mobility without affecting hormones making it a good potential candidate for male contraceptive pills without side effects. The compound simply turns off sperm ability to swim, which significantly limits fertilization capabilities.
The only safe forms of birth control currently available for men are condoms and vasectomy. Drugs are in clinical trials which target sperm, but they affect natural hormones in men in the same manners as the way female contraceptives affect hormones in women, this pill is non-hormonal.
36 hours following high dose intravenous infusion of EP055 in male rhesus macaques found no indication of normal sperm mobility, with no side effects being observed. 18 days after compound infusion all animals showed signs of recovery, suggesting EP055 compound to be reversible.
It was noted that more research is required before EP055 becomes available for human use. Teams have begun pill testing of the compound and will be conducting mating trials of EP055 to test effectiveness against pregnancy.
Materials provided by University of North Carolina Health Care.
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Journal Reference:
Michael G. O’Rand, Katherine G. Hamil, Tiffany Adevai, Mary Zelinski. Inhibition of sperm motility in male macaques with EP055, a potential non-hormonal male contraceptive. PLOS ONE, 2018; 13 (4): e0195953 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195953
