Condoms and Vasectomies Aren’t Enough—Is a Male Birth Control Pill Next?

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode, host Rachel Feltman speaks with freelance science journalist Hannah Seo about a promising new development in male contraception: a hormone-free birth control pill that reversibly stops sperm production has just passed its first human safety trial. Seo explains how the drug works, what makes it different from hormone-based methods and where it stands in clinical development. Recommended reading: First Hormone-Free Male Birth Control Pill Shown Safe in Early Human Trial Male Birth Control Is in Development, but Barriers Still Stand in the Way “Safety and Pharmacokinetics of the Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive YCT-529,” by Nadja Mannowetz et al., in Communications Medicine, Vol. 5, Article No. 279. Published online July 22, 2025 Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check the show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's the truth about AI.
0:02.0	AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
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0:09.0	removing friction and frustration for your employees,
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0:19.0	All built into a single platform you can
0:21.9	use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. For science, For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:48.3	When it comes to birth control, men have exactly two reliable options, condoms or a
0:59.0	vasectomy. That's it. For decades, researchers have been working to expand those choices,
1:04.7	but progress has been slow. Now, a new pill for men has just passed its first safety
1:10.7	trial in humans.
1:12.4	What's particularly exciting about this daily pill, which works by blocking a key step in sperm
1:17.0	production, is that it's hormone-free.
1:20.6	Here to tell us more about the latest progress on male contraception is Hannah Seo, a freelance
1:25.0	science journalist based in Brooklyn.
1:27.2	Hannah, thanks so much for coming on to chat today.
1:29.3	Thanks for having me. It's exciting.
1:31.0	So you recently wrote a story for Scientific American about some advances in male birth control.
1:38.8	Could you start by just telling us what this particular method is and how it works? Yeah, it was really
1:45.9	fascinated to read about this trial because it's the first non-hormonal male birth control pill.
	...

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