First male contraceptive pill, clinical trials underway: how it works

2023-12-21 15:32:44

Testing of the ‘pill’, the first non-hormonal contraceptive for him, is underway. This was announced by the US company YourChoice Therapeutics, which began administering the drug – currently identified with the acronym Yct-529 – to male volunteers in a phase one clinical trial. Preclinical studies, funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, have shown that Yct-529 is 99% effective and 100% reversible, with no side effects.

By inhibiting the retinoic acid receptor alpha (Rar), the pill prevents the production of sperm in the testes and their release, exploiting a mechanism that first emerged in the 1930s, when it was discovered that depriving mice, rats and monkeys of vitamin A causes infertility. A male contraceptive like the pill has been the holy grail of research for years. To arrive at Yct-529 it took 2 decades of studies, conducted by scientists at the Institutes for Therapeutics Discovery and Development, led by Gunda Georg, professor at the University of Minnesota, who developed the drug together with YourChoice Therapeutics. The phase 1 study will involve 16 volunteers, to evaluate safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetics.

“The last innovation in contraception was birth control with the pill for women, and this was more than 60 years ago – emphasizes Georg – The world is ready for a male contraceptive agent and providing one without hormones is simply the right thing to do, given what we know about the side effects women have endured for decades from the pill. We have solid preclinical data, Yct-529 was shown to be 99% effective at preventing pregnancies in mice and reducing the sperm count in monkeys after two weeks. There was also a strong safety profile and total reversibility in mice and monkeys once treatment was finished. I am confident that the phase 1 study will confirm the safety profile of the drug.”