Ask any woman who’s been on hormonal birth control for half their life how it’s going, and you’ll probably get a long sigh before you get an answer. Meanwhile, the guys she’s sleeping with have the same two options their dads had. Condoms or a vasectomy. Quite the selection.
Men seem ready for something better, too. A survey published in Andrology found that 61% of men across seven countries would try a new male contraceptive within its first year on the market. In the U.S., interest jumped from 39% to 49% after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
And for once, there are some promising candidates.
One of the more interesting developments comes from NEXT Life Sciences, which is working on a hormone-free pill called PausePill. Men would take it before sex, with the effects intended to last about 24 hours. The idea is to temporarily prevent sperm from coming out during ejaculation, leaving erections and orgasms alone.
Founder L.R. Fox even told the New York Post that “anecdotally, we’ve heard men say that they actually have increased pleasure.” Increased pleasure and no pregnancy? That’s a hell of a sales pitch.
The catch is that researchers still have to prove it works. The pill, also known as NLS-133, is being studied in a small Phase 2 trial involving 10 men. Its ability to reliably prevent pregnancy remains unproven.
Pills, Gels, and Injections: The Race to Give Men More Birth Control Options
NEXT is also developing Plan A, a hormone-free contraceptive for men who’d prefer to handle birth control with one procedure. It involves injecting a hydrogel into the tubes that carry sperm, preventing them from entering semen. The company wants the procedure to be reversible, although that still needs to be demonstrated in human trials.
Then there’s YCT-529, a daily hormone-free pill from YourChoice Therapeutics. Its first human safety trial involved 16 men who’d already had vasectomies. Researchers reported no adverse effects from the single doses tested, and longer trials are examining what happens to sperm production.
Another candidate, NES/T, is a hormonal gel men apply to their shoulders daily. In a Phase 2b trial involving 222 men, 86% reached the study’s sperm suppression target by week 15.
Of course, male birth control has been promising to arrive for years. Researchers still need larger trials, convincing safety data, and actual evidence that these products prevent pregnancy.
For now, women are still handling most of the contraceptive responsibility while men wait for something new. Hopefully, one of these products makes it to the pharmacy before another generation of guys has to make the same condom-or-vasectomy decision their dads did.
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