Are we ready for the new male contraceptives?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Women have been using the female contraceptive pill for over 60 years, and many other options have followed. Yet, after decades of research, there is still no male version of a birth control pill.
Male options for contraception are limited to the condom, vasectomy or withdrawal. However, clinical trials are underway around the world testing new innovations in male contraception. New options may be less than a decade away but, when they arrive, will people want to take them? In this edition of the Inquiry Sandra Kanthal asks: Are we ready for the new male contraceptives? Contributors: Allan Pacey, Professor of Andrology, University of Manchester Dr Diana Blithe, Chief of the Contraceptive Development Programme, National Institutes of Health Dhananjay Vaidyanathan Rohini, Founder and Partner, Alstonia Impact Logan Nickels, Chief Research Office, Male Contraceptive Initiative
Presenter/Producer: Sandra Kanthal Production Co-ordinator: Liam Morrey Technical Producer: James Beard Editor: Tara McDermott
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, |
| 0:06.3 | and I make podcasts for the BBC. I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. But when I started |
| 0:12.0 | commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right |
| 0:17.8 | mixture of sounds could take you into a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which, to cut a long story short, led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:29.9 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.1 | that make you go wow, like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC |
| 0:38.0 | sounds. You're listening to The Inquiry with me, Sandra Cantall. Each week, we bring you one |
| 0:44.8 | question, four expert witnesses and an answer. In December 23, 16 men in the United Kingdom started taking a pill which made them unique. |
| 1:00.5 | As part of a groundbreaking clinical trial, they were the first human recipients of a non-hormonal birth control pill designed for use in males. |
| 1:11.0 | The Phase 1 trial came to a successful conclusion in June 24, and further research is in the |
| 1:18.1 | pipeline. |
| 1:20.5 | Women have been able to take a hormonal pill to block pregnancy since 1960. |
| 1:26.7 | Additional options have followed. They can now choose from implants, |
| 1:30.6 | patches, coils and injections among others. Men, however, have just three methods of preventing |
| 1:38.8 | pregnancy at their disposal, withdrawal, condoms and vasectomy. Efforts to update available forms of male birth control |
| 1:47.8 | have been going on for decades. But now, trials for new innovations are starting to show promise. |
| 1:54.9 | So in this edition of the inquiry, are we ready for the new male contraceptives? |
| 2:04.2 | Part 1. Stopping an Army |
| 2:11.6 | Our abilities to manipulate female hormones and to block the release of a single egg is what leads to contraception. |
| 2:22.9 | Now, if we were to try and use the same technology to block sperm production, sperm are produced at quite a phenomenal rate. |
| 2:32.7 | There's about a thousand sperm produced with every heartbeat. |
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