but I would really be surprised if we didn't see an effect in humans as well," she added.Ī persistent question about future male contraceptive pills has been whether women will trust men to use them.īut surveys have shown that most women would in fact have faith in their partners, and significant numbers of men have indicated they would be open to the medication. "There is no guarantee that it will work. "I'm optimistic this will move forward quickly," she said, envisaging a possible timeline to market in five years or under. The team, which received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Male Contraceptive Initiative, is working with a company called YourChoice Therapeutics to start human trials by the third or fourth quarter of 2022, said Georg. The researchers monitored weight, appetite and overall activity, finding no apparent adverse impacts, although mice of course can't report side effects like headaches or mood changes.įour to six weeks after they were taken off the drug, the mice could once more sire pups. When administered orally to male mice for four weeks, YCT529 drastically reduced sperm counts and was 99% effective in preventing pregnancy in a mating trial. Their chemical, known as YCT529, was also designed to interact specifically with RAR-alpha, and not two other related receptors RAR-beta and RAR-gamma, in order to minimize potential side effects. "If we know what the keyhole looks like, then we can make a better key – that's where the computational model comes in," said Noman. They identified the best molecular structure with the help of a computer model. Retinoic acid needs to interact with RAR-alpha to perform these functions, and lab experiments have shown mice without the gene that creates RAR-alpha are sterile.įor their work, Noman and Georg developed a compound that blocks the action of RAR-alpha. Inside the body, vitamin A is converted into different forms, including retinoic acid, which plays important roles in cell growth, sperm formation and embryo development. To develop a non-hormonal drug, Noman, who works in the lab of Professor Gunda Georg, targeted a protein called "retinoic acid receptor (RAR) alpha."
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