Male Contraception Update
August 2006 Volume 1, Issue 5


**********In this issue**********

1. IVD trial may expand to more cities!
2. A mother's perspective on male contraception
3. Your excuse to buy Playboy
4. Hormonal male contraception in the news
5. New clinical trials listed at MaleContraceptives.org

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1. IVD trial may expand to more cities!

Great news on the IVD! There has been so much interest in the
clinical trial that the developers have asked the FDA for permission
to expand the trial to three more sites! If you're one of the men who
has written to Shepherd Medical expressing interest, you can take
credit for being part of making this happen.

Now the trial will be accessible to more men. Along with St. Paul,
Minnesota, they need to pick three more sites out of five choices:

- Los Angeles, California area
- Shreveport, Louisiana
- Tampa, Florida
- St. Cloud, Minnesota
- North Carolina

If you're considering a vasectomy and eager to try a "kinder, gentler"
alternative, let Shepherd Medical know right away if you live near one
of those sites and want to participate. The level of interest they
receive will factor into their decision on which sites to pick.

You can contact the clinical study manager, Janelle Antil:
IVDinfo@....

You can learn more about the goals of the trial at the National
Institutes Clinical Trial register:
http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct/show/NCT00335361?order=2

You can read about the Intra Vas Device and how it works at:
http://www.malecontraceptives.org/methods/shug.php


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2. A mother's perspective on male contraception

Columnist Georgie Binks brings a mother's perspective to her piece for
CBC News. What do young men need to know about contraception as they
go out into the world?

Binks points out that "pregnancy should be a big worry for males these
days, because the law has made them financially responsible for their
children financially, but the condom or a vasectomy are still the only
two birth control options available to men. Once a woman becomes
pregnant, it's her decision whether or not to continue the pregnancy."
She then discusses new methods that could give men more options, with
a quote from MCIP's director and a link to MaleContraceptives.org.

Check out this interesting opinion piece at CBC News online:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_binks/20060728.html


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3. Your excuse to buy Playboy

Look beyond the nearly-identical, airbrushed blondes with attributes
not found in nature, and it turns out that Playboy actually has some
informative content! Ignore the part about Hugh Hefner's barely legal
girlfriends, and turn right to the part where the advice columnist
answers a real-life question about heat methods.

Here's the situation: A guy saw a piece about heat methods on the
Discovery Health Channel and writes in wanting to know if he can make
a fortune selling a warming pouch that men can use to make the heat
methods practical. The Playboy Advisor says he's not the first to have
this idea: "We're sorry to disappoint you, but you're 80 years behind
the times. Scientists have been studying the effects of heat on sperm
since at least the 1920s…" The columnist manages to explain quite a
bit about heat methods in a short space, mention other research, and
even get in a mention of MCIP's website. Want to read the rest? It's
on page 39.

Playboy is one of the few media outlets which still has a dedicated
fact-checking staff, and there's not a single error in the piece. Add
in hard-hitting articles on gerrymandering and on Congress' abdication
of the responsibility to maintain checks and balances in government,
plus an interview with much-maligned FEMA chief Michael Brown in which
he tells his side of the story, and you can honestly tell the cashier,
"I'm buying it for the articles!"


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4. Hormonal male contraception in the news

Ever wonder what it would be like to use hormonal male contraception?
Britain's The Independent interviewed a study volunteer to find out.
The interview is part of a piece on the ongoing development of male
hormonal contraception. The article also digs into public attitudes
and the role of pharmaceutical companies.

Read the full article in The Independent News online:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1220942.ece


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5. New clinical trials listed at MaleContraceptives.org

The clinical trials page at MaleContraceptives.org now has new contact
information for two upcoming trials whose enrollment processes will
start over the coming months. One is the IVD trial described in this
newsletter; the other is an international study of hormonal male
contraception sponsored by the World Health Organization.
Here are the details:

The World Health Organization will coordinate a trial of the
effectiveness of a male hormonal contraceptive injection administered
every 2 months. This trial will take place in 10 clinical trial
centers around the globe: Italy, Indonesia, the US, the UK, Australia,
Germany, India, China, and possibly Finland. The purpose of this study
is to "establish the contraceptive efficacy of a combined androgen +
progestogen regimen for male fertility regulation." Volunteers will
receive combined injections of testosterone undecanoate and the
progestin NETE for up to one year.

Read more about it in the World Health Organization Reproductive
Health clinical trial register:
http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/rhl/a25165.html


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***Editors***

Elaine Lissner, Director of the Male Contraception Information Project
(MCIP)
Email: info@...
MCIP is entirely nonprofit and works in three areas: raising public
awareness of promising nonhormonal male contraceptives, advocating
increased and expedited government research, and serving as a resource
for journalists who wish to write about the subject.

Kirsten Thompson, Director of the Male Contraceptive Coalition (MCC)
Email: info@...
The Coalition's objectives are to speed the development of new male
contraceptives through increased legislative and institutional
support, to raise funds for applied male contraception research and
development, and to educate the public about the work of the research
community.