Contraception

Methods of Contraception: Contraceptive Methods for Men

The “Male Pill”
For many years there has been talk about developing a contraceptive pill for men. Such a pill would suppress the production of a man’s sperm cells and thus make him infertile. It has always been doubted, however, that men would take such a pill even if they had the opportunity. Therefore, pharmaceutical companies never tried very hard to develop it. Recently, this seems to have changed. In fact, various male contraceptives are now being tried as implants and as injections. A new reversible non-hormonal injection seems especially promising. This injection into the vas deferens was developed in India, and it is called Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance (RISUG). Unfortunately, because of its low cost and long-lasting effect (if so desired), there is little incentive to run the necessary large-scale trials and to put great sums into marketing it. In contrast, hormonal contraceptives (also in the form of injections) for men promise to be profitable and are likely to become widely available in the near future.