New male birth control gel – which is applied to the shoulder blades – takes effect in just eight weeks, study finds

A new male birth control gel takes effect in just eight weeks – sooner than similar male contraceptive methods – according to a new study.

Researchers have discovered the gel, which is applied to the shoulder blades, works faster than other experimental hormone-based contraceptive methods.

It combines two hormones, segesterone acetate and testosterone, which work together to suppress sperm production.

For the study, 222 men applied the gel once daily to each shoulder blade and took part in sperm count tests every four weeks.

The threshold deemed effective for contraception was one million or fewer sperm per millilitre of semen.

According to the findings, presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in Boston, 86 per cent of men in the study reached this sperm count by week 15.

Among those men, sperm production was suppressed at an average time of less than eight weeks of treatment.

Researchers say that prior studies of male hormonal contraceptives given by injections showed an average time between nine and 15 weeks for sperm output to become suppressed.

Senior researcher Diana Blithe, chief of the contraceptive development program at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, USA, said: ‘A more rapid time to suppression may increase the attractiveness and acceptability of this drug to potential users.

For the study, 222 men applied the gel once daily to each shoulder blade and took part in sperm count tests every four weeks (stock)

‘The development of a safe, highly effective and reliably reversible contraceptive method for men is an unmet need.

‘While studies have shown that some hormonal agents may be effective for male contraception, the slow onset of spermatogenic suppression is a limitation.’ The gel contains 8 milligrams (mg) of segesterone acetate and 74 mg of testosterone.

Now that the sperm suppression stage of the study is complete, researchers will examine the contraceptive’s effectiveness, safety, acceptability and reversibility of contraception after treatment stops.

A major hurdle in developing a daily contraceptive for men has been the nagging fear among many women that they may forget to take it.

However a British study, which involved a contraceptive gel with a slightly different formula, found that men could be trusted to take their equivalent of the Pill.

The majority of participants used the gel for a full year, with 90 per cent remembering to rub it on their shoulder every day.