Does pond scum hold the key to a marketable male pill?
Posted by Mike Malone | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 30-06-2010-05-2008
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There’s an interesting article just published on the mydna.com website. A Norwegian company has signed a licensing agreement with the University of Massachusetts Medical School to fund research that could bring about a male pill. Most of the research uses testosterone to supress the sperm production. This time they are taking a different approach.
Instead of shutting down sperm production, the new approach targets a protein in sperm cells that controls their ability to swim. The Norwegian plan targets the C protein in sperm. By suppressing that protein, the pill turns off the tiny tails that allow sperm to swim to the female egg for fertilization.
Researchers hit on the idea by watching pond scum. Algae are propelled through water by flagella. Human sperm use similar tails for movement. The C protein controls the motion of the flagella. Cut off the protein, researchers surmise, and the sperm won’t be able to swim. The protein exists nowhere else in the human body so shutting it down shouldn’t cause side effects, researchers say.
Researchers point to the fact that the development so far of the male pill has followed the same mind-set as female pills. Female contraceptives use hormones (estrogens and progestins) to prevent pregnancy by blocking the release of eggs. Researchers have tried the same tactic with men, manipulating hormones like testosterone and progestins to turn off sperm production.
And, like female pills, prototype male pills came with side effects like lowered muscle mass and a drop in sex drive. To balance the hormones in the pill, men needed testosterone replacement therapy injections every four to six weeks.
The article then goes on to discuss if men would use the male pill, and suggests that the main market for the male pill (should it ever come to market) may be outside the US.
