Hey folks,

My understanding is that WHO is in phase III trials with DMPA +
testosterone for men in Indonesia. According to a guy I met at a
conference who was doing research on the acceptability of this method,
WHO is "tinkering" with the doseage, trying to get maximum protection
from one injection. (If anyone is interested about how Indonesian
couples feel about the method, abstract available at:
http://paa2002.princeton.edu/abstractViewer.asp?submissionId=60823)

Re: why male method research is going so slowly. From a biological
standpoint, my reproductive biology profs have always maintained that
it's a lot easier to prevent pregnancy when you only have to do it once
a month -- e.g., prevent ovulation or implantation-- as opposed to
suppressing a constant process (sperm production).

While biology does play a role, there is a HUGE bias in the research
community about male methods. People still run around saying things like
"oh, men will never want to adopt a pill or injection" when that's a
load of BS. WHO about 1.5 or 2 years ago did a multi-country male method
acceptability study, and the results were positive: Men were
overwhelmingly likely to say that they would be interested in trying out
a male method. Even in traditional, "macho"-type cultures. So when
people say "men will never go for it," they're just buying into
stereotypes about how all men are irresponsible jerks, etc etc etc. Of
course, I remember reading the news article about the study and the lead
paragraph was how surprised the reporter was to find out that many men
are responsible human beings and want to take an active role in
pregnancy prevention. So it really is a widespread thing. (A colleague
of mine even said that when she floated a PhD dissertation topic of the
acceptability of male methods at a top public health university, the
female professor who was her advisor said "Oh, men will NEVER want to go
for something like that. Don't waste your time." [yes, I screamed in
anger, and made sure that said colleague forwarded the above WHO study
to this prof, in the hopes that she get her head out of her a$$])

So, if you're Huge Pharmaceutical Firm A, are you really want to going
to invest in R&D, three phases of clinical trials, FDA approval,
marketing, and sales on a method that, in their minds, has tremendously
limited demand? I mean, traditional pharmaceutical firms in the US are
totally ignoring microbicide development, leaving it to universities and
non-profits like the Population Council 'cause they feel the profit
margin for microbicides is too small.

Personally, if I was male, I would devote my life to advocating the
development of hormonal, reversible, male contraceptive methods. I know
one too many men who have been "ooopsed" by women, and it's a shame that
men have such limited options. Condoms are only about 85% effective as
typically used. I'm sorry, but those are odds I would NOT want to go
with. The only other option is vasectomy, which is only appropriate when
men do not want any more children. Not a lot of choice.

Some random articles for your viewing pleasure...
Why Male Contraception isn't on the Radar Screen (editorial)
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/176_05_040302/han10001.html

A 1999 paper on where they are with male methods:
http://matweb.hcuge.ch/endo/Lectures_9th_PGC/Mbizvo.htm

You can probably search on the methods Mbizvo covers to see where they
are now. Medline or Popline would have abstracts of the articles, for
certain.

cheers,
Vera

----- Original Message -----
From: malecontraceptives@yahoogroups.com
Date: Sunday, September 15, 2002 5:26 pm
Subject: [malecontraceptives] Digest Number 29

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> There is 1 message in this issue.
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> Topics in this digest:
>
> 1. Re: Digest Number 28
> From: Matt Campbell <mcc99@...>
>
>
> ________________________________________________________________________
> ________________________________________________________________________
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 14 Sep 2002 20:25:26 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Matt Campbell <mcc99@...>
> Subject: Re: Digest Number 28
>
> Jon,
>
> Well, there's a few shimmers of hope. A clinical
> study was done in the UK using injections and pills.
> See the Group's "Documents" section for a file:
> "Implanon.pdf", which I posted there, that discusses
> the trial. The results were promising but for some
> reason, it seems despite the clearly huge market
> potential for male b/c pills/injections, that
> development is slower than mollasses in winter. I
> cannot for the life of me understand why this is not
> being pursued more aggressively.
>
> Hey, if there is anyone on this list who works for a
> drug maker, please add some commentary about why you
> think it seems things are going so rat-stinkin' slow?
>
> Matt
>
> > Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2002 19:39:09 -0000
> > From: " Jon " <brunnjon@...>
> > Subject: Heyya...
> >
> >
> >
> > So let's cut to the chase here. How close is a
> > male "pill" or
> > injection o completion? I can't find anyhing but
> > possiblities from
> > years ago on yahoo. And the sites you've listed all
> > say one
> > thing...We've found the answer, but then they leave
> > you hanging.
> >
>
>
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