A new male birth control pill passed tests of safety and tolerability when healthy men used it daily for a month, and it produced hormone responses consistent with effective contraception, according to researchers at two institutions testing the drug.
The Phase 1 study results were presented March 24 at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in New Orleans. Stephanie Page, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, jointly led the study with Christina Wang, a professor of medicine at UCLA in Los Angeles.
Study results indicate that the experimental male oral contraceptive decreased sperm production while preserving libido. The pill is called 11-beta-methyl-19-nortestosterone dodecylcarbonate, or 11-beta-MNTDC. It is a modified testosterone that has the combined actions of a male hormone (androgen) and a progesterone.
The study involved 40 healthy men across two sites: UW Medical Center in Seattle and the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in Torrance, Calif. Ten study participants randomly received a placebo capsule, and 30 others received 11-beta-MNTDC at one of two doses; 14 men received 200 mg. and 16 got the 400 mg. dose. Subjects took the drug or placebo once daily for 28 days.
Levels of two hormones required for sperm production dropped greatly in the study cohort, compared with those taking the placebo, the researchers reported.
