Biotech company Contraline has safely implanted a sperm-blocking hydrogel in 23 men. It’s designed to be a fully reversible vasectomy.
A gel injected into the scrotum could be the next male contraceptive::Biotech company Contraline has safely implanted a sperm-blocking hydrogel in 23 men. It’s designed to be a fully reversible vasectomy.
Vaselgel is too cheap to manufacture to get the funding it needs to bring it to market, that's why they have been trying for 20 years and haven't succeeded yet. In the US the rights are owned by a non profit Parsemu Foundation formed to fund it. It looks like their private partner NEXT Life Sciences is actually set to come to market with a vaselgel product in 2026 they are calling Plan A.
I thought they were implying something misogynist about women's ability to plan and how the women's plan will be considered only if the man's fails first. Maybe that's the way to get sex ed to where it's needed though, "the first anti-woke birth control, putting the control back where it should be." Wouldn't be surprised in today's America. /s
From what I'm reading, they're not set to go to market; that's just their goal. Most recent article I found was middle of last year that they had raised more money and were hoping to go to human trials by the end of the year. That aligns with what I remember about Vasalgel from years ago - they had finally made it to monkey trials but their monkey study was not showing a consistent ability to return to virility with the second injection. I seem to remember the proposed reason being that vas deferens in the monkeys/apes they were testing with are actually more delicate than humans' and so humans should still likely be reversible. Last I heard, I believe they were trying to move forward on the human trial of proving that it works as a contraceptive, to be followed by a human trial showing reversibility. Then radio silence and funding issues. My assumption has always been that they struggled to jump to human trials because of the primate study results hurting the likelihood of reversibility. Hopefully they have reworked it to solve that, or maybe the acquisition and new funding is enough to just push through that regardless and see if humans will be fine.
If something like this had been about I'd have had it done at 21 rather than my wife fucking up her hormones with the pill for a few years before we ended up getting the permanent snip.
It's not really a big loss in my own personal experience. I kept hearing about reversible male contraceptive technologies "just on the horizon" from my early 20's and I would have preferred getting a reversible procedure if such a thing had been available sooner, but when I turned age 35 and this tech still hadn't seen the light of day, I asked myself if it being reversible was really such an important factor. I knew by that point that I never wanted to have any kids, and any future partner I would be with would need to be on the same page as me at a minimum, so I just went ahead and got it done while I was still in my sexual prime so I could enjoy the years I have left.
More options are great I suppose, but as a gem-xer I don't get the modern revolt against the condom. Modern condoms are pretty damn thin / good and are a form of male birth control with bonus of very good disease prevention, have next to no side effects, and minimize messes too.
I think for those that have grown up with porn in their palms it is different yes. Admittedly that's my impression and that of my peer group. I'm not aware of data on the matter.
IMO for anyone in a stable monoamorous relationship, the IUD is the superior option, as long as the female partner is a good fit for it and doesn't have complications from it.
My wife had significant issues with hers, including basically never-ending spotting and occasional surprise periods, cramps, mood issues, etc. She had it removed after 2 years.
I'm thinking a vasectomy is the next thing, but it isn't covered on my insurance and finding a doctor is intimidating.
It looks promising, even though it is quite far away from becoming available to the general public.
Still I wish that there was more of a push for something like a contraceptive pill for men. It feels like it has been ignored for years and only now they are starting a bit with development and trials...
While I am speaking way outside my confort zone here, it seems magnitudes harder to effectively disable millions of sperm and their associated production as opposed to simply knocking a woman's hormone balance a little out of whack to prevent ovulation.
The bigger question is being ignored though: If we have to inject our scrotum with a gel, where are we going to store our pee?????
Unfortunately there has to be almost no side effects for almost all users, as there are no (as yet) medical benefits to male contraception.
In women, not being pregnant can prevent death for some of them, regulate painful periods, etc. - it is considered the risk of the myriad side effects is worth it because at least it does some good.
For men, who do not become pregnant, not being able to get someone else pregnant is not a medical benefit for the man.
And unfortunately hormonal modification does cause problems. Lots of them.
RISUG has been in promised for what, nearly a decade now? This has been the FSD/Star Citizen of the male contraceptive world, always right around the corner.
Not sure, this seems to be exactly what vasalgel is. At first, I thought the innovation was that they just squirt this stuff into your sack and call it a day, and that would have been different. But nope! Same injection site too. Maybe it's more effective or something.
Contraline’s method involves making a small piercing in the scrotum and using a handheld injector to push the hydrogel through a catheter that’s connected to the vas deferens. The catheter is then taken out, and the puncture heals on its own.
That sounds like a bit more than just an injection. Not quite like going in for a flu shot to the nuts
Can you explain why? Some people don't want to have kids. Why should the onus fall on only women with birth control and IUDs? More options for male contraceptives are a good thing.
Do you think female birth control is 100% safe and comfortable for women? Hydrocele are nothing compared to some of the adverse side affects of female birth control. Hydrocele only form in the thing sheath surrounding the testical, are do to physical irritation (not injected fluid), and usually go away on their own. Also, I'd imagine people smart enough to develop male birth control considered that exceptionally common alement.
Men already get cut open down there and then get their pipes cut and burned. A small injection that is reversible would actually be better. As long as it works very reliably (which it probably won't).
Hell, there have been cases where even the cutting healed by its own and suddenly they got someone pregnant.
Besides the risk for permanent pain in the area, a vasectomy is not 100% risk free unfortunately (or I would have done it years ago without hesitation).
Would be cool to have a remote control device that mechanically opens/closes the tubes, built-in security layer for ensuring only you can unlock it, auto-lock, etc. If the tech-bro venture capitalists weren't weirdos about spreading their genes around maybe this would be a thing.
It's actually super easy to root your ball controls and run a minimal install, check out some of the projects on github. Compatibility is like 90% there.
I mean I would only accept the FOSS option for my balls (or lack thereof), but yeah I want like a diabetes insulin pump but for balls. Could add a bunch of quirks and features in there too like a hardening protective mesh and RGB. Why stop there just go full tech-penis.