99% Effective: First Hormone-Free Male Birth Control Pill Enters Human Trials

Last time we will hear about this pill. Like the last 5 times
- that's how it works. Human trials can be 5, 10+ years.

No side effects from the drug were detected in either group.
Wow, that's great.
I wonder what happened to vasalgel. They were supposed to have trials long ago, but for some reason never got there. The webpage says
NEXT Life Sciences announced its launch of the product called Plan A, using the Vasalgel technology for male contraception. The NEXT team expects Plan A to be available to the public in 2026.
But they've been saying that for a decade or so now.
- An alternative to Vasalgel did a couple of trials in January 2024 and they said the trail would be 2 years long to cover the entire lifespan of the drug.
  I was trying to figure out why Vasalgel hasn't started human trials but I can't seem to find any actual reasons.
  
  It seems like they're planning to have it effective for 1-2 years and it takes about 30 days to become effective. That's not great if you need an annual injection of this stuff or if you don't know exactly when it stops being effective.
  I think it would need to be more in line with IUD timeliness, which I think range from 5-10 years depending on the type.

What a great time to be alive. Well except for the not having a partner. And being too timid to meet someone. And the whole rise of Nazis.
Ok so maybe not that great, but it's a thing that's cool.
- Yeah this could have helped save my relationship… ten years ago.

Mark my words: if this becomes available in the mainstream, one initial effect will be a rise in unplanned pregnancy.
The number of men who will actually take this is less than the number of men who will claim they take this.
- "Birth control is for bitches" I can already hear Tate worshippers justifying rape.

Can't wait for the flood of people telling us why this isn't feasible for men to take and insisting that when a SAFE and 100% EFFECTIVE form is ready they'll surely take it.
- As a man I can assure you that this pill wouldn't be feasable for me to take and I'm better off without it.
  _{Because I'm snipped}
  
  Samesies. Best decision I ever made.
- It's feasible for men to take.
  But it's absolutely not feasible for women to trust a men who says he's taking it.
  So it is a good option for family planning of married couples (where the man is legally responsible for any children he might conceive).
  But not for casual sex.
  
  I’m sure you’re taking the necessary precautions; but in case anybody reading this gets mixed ideas. Using the contraceptive pill will ONLY help prevent pregnancy. There are hundreds reasons why you should still wear a condom for sex with a new partner with unknown history. That goes for both parties!
  
  Not sure how it's done where you live, but if you have a one night stand, the condom breaks, and she gets pregnant, you're still legally on the hook for child support. This sounds like a great idea for any man who wants their own insurance again any accidental pregnancy.
  
  In no way was the original comment even trying to imply anything about women trusting men. So I'm a little confused about this response.
  
  Shoes the same on the other foot, pal. Especially considering how often it's been studied that women stop taking the pill without telling their spouses and then lie to them after getting pregnant, claiming how "crazy and unexpected" it was to get pregnant while on birth control.
- I'd take it so my gf can get off her hormone implant.
- On another platform, yep.
  It’s good to see an alternative, even though it’s going to be caught up in the precious fragile masculinity discussion.
  You know what’s insane? Handing out hormonal birth control to 14 year old girls. Also, having women take hormones for decades on end.
  
  Honestly I don't see why any person would want to force someone else to take hormones as a contraceptive when non-hormonal contraceptives work. And the fact that it's pill form makes it super easy. Literally not even an inconvenience. Just toss it back in the morning. Boom. Done.
  Hormones will fuck you up.
- I would love it, tbh

Our first was a girl. Second was a boy. Third will be a vasectomy.

Where do I apply as test subject?

Cool! Hopefully it'll actually reach the public before I have kids so they won't have to get a vasectomy like I did. Wait...

The core issue that nobody is mentioning is that (cis) men are ultimately not the people who suffer the consequences for not taking it so they are more likely to just lie. Stealthing is already common enough because men insist it feels better.
- Stealthing?
  Is that where they don't put it on or pretend it comes off or some stupid shit?
  I'm... Yeah. Im Not ok now. My ex gave me way too many details about when she cheated on me and now I realize just how stupid I was staying with her as long as I did.
  God fucking damnit. I mean I get it. Yeah, there's a noticable difference. But Jesus fucking Christ its rape at that point. I just
  Goddamnit fuck men. Fuck all' the bastards that think they can do whatever they want with women. It's not right, I don't care how much hate I get for it. I might be a man, I might be straight as anyone can be. But no one deserves the shit that the patriarchy has created, and every day I seem to learn something new. It's bad enough that I don't conform to the "manly" image of being handy, strong, or arrogant, or sporty.
  
  stealthing is and has always been considered rape
  
  Yeah. It is that disgusting shit. Someone did it to a friend who does SW last year and it really fucked her up.
  I ultimately cannot advocate for male birth control because I trust men so little that I think manhood should be abolished but that is more of a personal stance than anything.
- the core issue that nobody is mentioning is that men are ultimately not the people who suffer the consequences
  No, thats a major hurdle to get this stuff approved. Birth control all comes with downsides, there's no "perfect conception" except absence.
  With female birth control, the negatives of birth control can far outweigh the negatives of pregnancy. But men have (essentially) no negative medical issues with pregnancy, so a birth control for men would also have to have next to no long or short term issues.

I always just used condoms. I only had unprotected sex with women I was willing to have kids with at times we both wanted kids. Over 50 years old, no unwanted pregnancies and no STDs ever. Condoms also help a man last longer in bed, which can help make it more enjoyable for your lady.

99% effective is nowhere near 100%, perhaps counterintuitively. Sex twice a week for a year and you're probably in deep shit.
- Sure but its about the same rate as female birth control. also fertilization cant happen every single day of the month, so in your scenario you only gotta worry about 2 to 3 days a month, when you could use condoms if you were really worried about it.
  This is a fantastic alternative to the hell hormonal birth control can be for women.
  
  Am a dude on thyroid medications - hormonal impacting drugs and hormone variations are fucking brutal.
  I talked with my wife to get off BC and we started using condoms again after my ordeal of getting stable with thyroid meds. I was like why would you take that shit when condoms exist.
  For folks saying 99% whatever - like my condom busts up 1 in 50 or so. So might be better odds on a med.
- Contraceptive effectiveness is usually not measured by number of times sex happened, it's measured by comparing how many pregnancies happen in comparison with the normally expected in a given time period.
- Condoms are only 97% effective.
  The 99% effectiveness is measured in the aggregate, not "have sex 100 times and you have a baby."
- The only birth control that is 100% effective is not having sex.
  
  Abstinence is not birth control.
  That’s like saying the only way to build a house that doesn’t fall down is to not build the house.
  
  Vasectomies are close enough
  
  The only birth control that is 100% effective is having HOT GAY SEX™
  Alternatively become a Buddhist monk and hit yourself in the balls until you're infertile, I guess
  
  Go back to the dark ages already
- That's not how those percentages are calculated. It's not per instance of intercourse, it's how many couples end up pregnant after being sexually active for a year. 99% means you have a 1% chance of getting a woman pregnant if you're sexually active throughout a year.
- Is that any different than the pill or other contraception methods?
- Bro, are you seriously against male contraception? The pill has failure rates of 9 friggin' percent of typical use. 99% for typical use would be amazing.
- If you combine it with the 99.9% (made up number) of condoms then you are pretty damn safe tho.
- Or just the wrong hole at the wrong time.

I'm skeptical. Anything targeting signalling pathways seems likely to have consequences that aren't apparent from animal trials. I remember a few years back that MENT (trestolone, 7α-methyl-19-nortestosterone) was being investigated for use as male contraceptive, and one of the biggest issues I recall was that it caused really wild mood swings in a number of men. Admittedly, MENT is hormonal, but I don't think that issues it caused were anticipated; I think the profile looked much more promising than it ended up being.

I was already considering hitting up my fwb who has a breeding fetish tbh. Now I'm def gonna quit doomscrolling and [REDACTED]