LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas Medical Center is testing a male contraceptive gel that men apply to their shoulders.
The school’s research institution is conducting a clinical trial for the contraceptive and searching for couples to participate.
Dr. Ajay Nangia, the center’s vice chair of urology, is a collaborating investigator of the study.
“I think what we’re finding is in the big picture there’s a big need for a male contraceptive,” Nangia told the Lawrence Journal-World.
The gel is a mixture of Nestorone and testosterone. Nestorone is a synthetic progestin that blocks the production of male hormones needed to generate sperm. The testosterone in the gel replaces testosterone usually produced in the male body.
The gel should not lessen a man’s sex drive and his sperm count should return to normal about three to nine months after no longer using the gel, Nangia said. Previous short-term studies, he noted, showed a drop and a subsequent return of sperm count. The second phase of the study is longer and participants will be on the drug for at least a year.
A nonprofit called The Population Council and the National Institute of Health are partnering to create the gel. The clinical trial’s chief investigators are at the University of California in Los Angeles and the University of Washington, Nangia said. The University of Kansas is a sub-site.
As of Jan. 17, the center had three people on the drug, Nangia said. He added that it’s difficult to find qualifying participants.
“That’s why this is such a multi-institutional study; it’s going to take a lot of people,” Nangia noted.
The study takes about two years in total. Couples must be in a monogamous relationship for a least a year. Men must be between the ages of 18 and 50 and visit the clinic about 31 times. Their female partner must be between the ages of 18 and 34 and visit the clinic about 10 times.
