Every so often, a new timeline for the introduction is male birth control is forecast.
This time, though, it seems more certain than ever that we’ll see a male contraceptive on the market by 2017.
It’s called Vasalgel – always a repellant name – a polymer gel injected into a male’s vas deferens (you can probably guess what that is without going to Wikipedia) that has yielded remarkable results.
In baboons, anyway.
According to a press release by the Parsemus Foundation, a not-for profit organization that develops low-cost medical approaches, Vasalgel was injected into three male baboons who were then given unrestricted sexual access to 10-15 females each.
In six months, not one female has become pregnant. Human trials are set to begin next year.
The gel’s appeal, of course, is strong: it will be it will be more readily reversible than a vasectomy, so a man who wishes to regain his fertility can simply flush it out with another procedure. Vasalgel’s messaging is directed at men in their 20s and 30s on the dating scene, understandably to offer some reassurance to a woman’s use (or forgetting) of the pill. A more detailed breakdown here.
As for the cost, the Parsemus Foundation suggests it will be available for less than the cost of a flat screen TV.
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