Print“I say this as a man whose wife wouldn’t trust him to balance the checkbook, let alone take on such a critical responsibility in family planning.”
Thanksgiving is a holiday filled with great food, family, and warm memories. In an effort to capture all of those wonderful associations in a bottle in 2004, the good folks at Jones Soda devised its Holiday Pack, which contained five seasonal flavors including Green Bean Casserole Soda, Mashed Potato & Butter Soda, Fruitcake Soda, Cranberry Soda, and Turkey & Gravy Soda. I’m sure it must have seemed like a good idea at first.
I had the same kind of reaction when I read this week that researchers at Columbia University Medical Center made an advance toward an oral contraceptive for men. The male pill would make use of low doses of a compound that interferes with retinoic acid receptors and causes sterility, at least in male mice. Their study was published in the journal Endocrinology.
The researchers found that low doses of the drug stopped sperm production with no apparent side effects. Importantly, the researchers say normal fertility was restored after use of the drug ended.
Earlier research had led the investigators to the discovery that manipulating the retinoid receptor pathway could interfere with the process of spermatogenesis, which is necessary for sperm production. The compound being investigated inhibits the body’s ability to make use of vitamin A. For nearly a century scientist have known male animals without vitamin A suffer from sterility.
While researching a mutation to a gene that encodes one of the retinoic acid receptors, the study’s senior author Debra Wolgemuth, professor of genetics and development and obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University, discovered a paper by Bristol-Myers Squibb on a compound that was being tested for the treatment of skin and inflammatory diseases. BMS abandoned the compound because, as the company termed it, it was a “testicular toxin.” The compound appeared to induce changes similar to the mutation that Wolgemuth and her colleague were studying.
“One company's toxin may be another person's contraceptive,” says Wolgemuth.
The compound is of particular interest because it offers a non-steroidal approach. Side effects, the researchers say, have plagued male steroid-based options, including ethnic variability in efficacy, as well as an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and benign prostatic hyperplasia. In addition, hormonal approaches can diminish libido.
All of this sounds encouraging, but would a daily oral contraceptive really be suited to men? I say this as a man whose wife wouldn’t trust him to balance the checkbook let alone take on such a critical responsibility in family planning. I, like most men I know, tend to take an attitude at home of doing things when I get around to it. I am not very big on routine.
And should my mate, in the heat of passion, hit the pause button to ask, “You’ve been taking the pill, right?” I believe I, like most men dealing with a little passion interruptus, would not answer “yes” or “no” outright, but say something like, “no problem.”
Ultimately, such a drug may have a niche market of Congressmen, high-powered executives, and professional athletes with assets and careers to protect. In retrospect, John Edwards or Arnold Schwarzenegger might see the value in such a pill, but I’m not sure that most men–or the women they sleep with–would.
It’s a bit like turkey and gravy soda. It’s a cool idea, but I can’t see a lot of people lining up to buy it.
June 09, 2011
http://www.burrillreport.com/article-square_peg_in_a_round_hole.html
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