DMAU successfully completed clinical trial
Science Daily reports that the results of a clinical trial of male contraceptive pills will be presented at the upcoming US Endocrinological Society Congress in Chicago next week. The drug based on the substance DMAU was studied in 83 men aged 18 to 50 years – the researchers confirmed that the daily intake of pills reduces the level of testosterone and other hormones that affect the formation of sperm, without affecting the functioning of the genitals.
The head of the drug development group Stephanie Page emphasizes that the analogs of the hormonal drug on the market have serious side effects – they damage the liver and kidneys, affect sexual function, and are also excreted too quickly from the body, so one tablet per day is not enough. None of these side effects were found in the study of the new drug, but there were others: participants in the experiment noted a slight increase in body weight and a decrease in the level of “good” cholesterol. The results showed the drug was safe enough for their next phase of clinical trials – an unprecedented result, Page says.
Hormonal contraceptives for women have been used since the 1960s, and similar drugs for men have begun to be developed more recently. We have already talked about other experimental forms of contraception for men: injections of a drug that affects the pituitary gland and a gel that clogs the vas deferens. According to the creators of the DMAU-based drug, male contraception in the form of pills that you just need to take every day will clearly be in more demand than injections and other invasive procedures.