This just came in on the news feed.  Question is – Do you think your husband will do so?  Because it takes :

3.4 months to regain their full sperm capacity after ceasing treatment.Whoa….it is kinda scary ‘cos you never know when you will get normal, healthy sperms, isn’t it?

Contraceptive pill for men reversible

Men may soon be able to take a hormonal contraceptive pill to stop them producing sperm, after new research has found the treatment is fully reversible.

Hormonal male contraception uses combinations of hormones to switch off sperm production, just as the female contraceptive pill switches off ovulation.

A study carried out by Australia’s ANZAC Research Institute has found men who used the androgen therapy regained sperm output in a predictable fashion after ceasing treatment.

The study examined 1,500 men aged 18-51 between 1990 and 2005, and was done in conjunction with the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at UCLA.

Principal researcher Dr Peter Liu said the fertility findings brought the male contraceptive one step closer to being made publicly available.

“We investigated the rate, extent and predictors of reversibility of hormonal male contraception and found that full recovery can be expected reliably from such treatments,” Dr Liu said.

“These findings pave the way for new contraceptive drugs that allow men to share the satisfaction and burden of family planning more fairly.”

Dr Liu said hormonal therapy was superior to current male contraceptive methods, including condoms and vasectomy, because it was more reliable and easily reversible.

It took participants, on average, 3.4 months to regain their full sperm capacity after ceasing treatment.

Factors affecting recovery rates include age and ethnic background.

A large phase-three study on androgen treatment is near completion in China, while pharmaceutical companies in Europe also are completing a multi-centre phase two study.

© 2006 AAP
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