( A novel non-hormonal male contraceptiv...)Non-Hormonal Male Contraceptive Based on Sperm Block Underway,Health

A novel, non-hormonal male contraceptive device that targets sperms, called Intra Vas Device (IVD) has been approved by the FDA for a study// involving 90 men. Men and women have long been promised a male version of the female contraceptive pill. However, this first male contraceptive to be marketed market may not be hormonal at all.

The study, to take place in Seattle, Washington and St. Paul, Minnesota, will bring men one-step closer to having their first new contraceptive in more than a century.

‘Preliminary studies in animals and men show that this doesn't have the side effects of hormonal methods,’ said Jim Stice, president of Shepherd Medical Company, a consortium of researchers and entrepreneurs developing the device. ‘The concept is pretty simple: A set of tiny plugs block sperm as they travel through a tube called the vas deferens. Men don't need to worry that they'll have acne or gain weight or have their sex drive go up or down--all things that can happen when you manipulate hormones.’

This will be the second contraceptive study of the IVD in men. In the pilot study, the method was very effective: All 30 men either had no sperm in their semen or had levels too low to cause a pregnancy. Early monkey studies showed reversibility after seven months of use, but reversibility studies in men have thus far only tested same-day insertion and removal.

Elaine Lissner, director of the nonprofit Male Contraception Information Project, is cautiously optimistic. ‘The Holy Grail of contraception is a long-term, reversible method without any hormonal side effects,’ she said. ‘Right now the IVD developers can't guarantee that it's reversible in men like it has been in animals, so they're billing it as a kinder, gentler vasectomy. But if it turns out to be reversible, they're going to have a line out the door.’

The concept of blocking sperm in the vas deferens is not new: each year about 500,000 American men get v
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