My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.
Hello and welcome to the Daily os. It's Sam. Welcome to tda's summer series. I hope you're having a nice couple of weeks over summer, whether you're working, taking some time off, headed to a music festival, or just you know, hanging out with family and friends. This week, we're going to share more of our favorite deep dives from twenty twenty three, from some of our most popular interviews to some stories you might have missed. I guess we're trying
to keep your company here over the summer. We'll be back to some regular programming next week. Until then, here is our summer series. The oral contraceptive pill was first introduced in May of nineteen fifty, although it was only available in Australia from nineteen sixty one. And that was only to married women. We're now sixty two years later, and while female contraceptives have become more varied and more accessible,
there's still no oral contraception option for men. But a successful trial in mice means that could change.
Where are things at in terms of male contraception generally, I feel like it's not something we hear about very often at all.
Well, put it this way, of all the contraceptives currently in existence, only two of male use, and we're talking there about vasectomes and condoms.
That doesn't surprise me. There have been clinical.
Trials of hormonal contraceptive pills with around a ninety four percent success rate, but some of those trials have been abandoned because men were experiencing adverse side effects. We're talking about things like acne, mood swings, or depression.
If only this was filmed and you could see my reaction there, and I'm sure the reaction of any other woman listening to this who has experienced the fun of being on a constiou st pill. It seems like that is something that is just by and by of being on the pill. Why did they stop those clinical trials for men experiencing those very same things.
Well, I think you're right, but the side effects argument has come up again and again. For example, in twenty sixteen, there was a lot of coverage about the fact that a trial of a male hormonal contraception, which had been commissioned by the World Health Organization was dropped because of side effects. Fifty percent of people experienced acne, many experienced some emotional disorders, thirty eight percent experienced and increased libido.
But you're right. You only have to read the information sheet that comes with female hormonal contraceptives.
It's long, Well, it's very long. It's like a full on document.
Yeah, and there's a litany of warnings things like acne and mood swings. Sure, the same as the male side effects, but also for an increased risk of blood clots, deposed blood clots.
When we were all talking about a possible harm caused by the astrosenica vaccine and the government was announcing who could get and who could have, I think there were a lot of women who were looking at that and just acknowledging the fact that the oral contraceptive also carries risks for blood clotting. But that's just part of the risk that we accept it's not wanting to have children.
It's part of the booklet. And that's all to say that hormonal birth control is definitely not perfect for men or for women.
It's not, and there is a lot of variation out there for women, especially in what they can access for birth control. There's non hormonal forms of female birth control things like some IUDs. I'm not saying they're perfect either, but there actually are options for what women can access today, unlike men exactly.
And that's why this team of scientists have worked to develop an on demand non hormonal birth control for men. Okay, wait, take me through what that means.
So first I need to point out that this has been really successful with mice, but it hasn't been tested on humans yet, so there is a long way to go and have that as the big grain of salt that you listen to all of this, but I'll explain how it works. One of the challenges with developing new contraceptives for men is that after puberty, a man produces about a thousand sperm a second, and that is a
lot to stop from reaching fertilization. This new contraception, instead of trying to reduce sperm production, basically stops the sperm from swimming. Now, in mammals, sperm is stored in a dormant state, but during ejaculation, an enzyme is stimulated. It's got a long name, so we're just going to call it sac. And the scientists realize that this enzyme was a key part of fertilization, so they identified a potential inhibitor of that enzyme and went on to give that
inhibitor to male mice. They found that it rapidly and temporarily renders mice infertile. Do you want to see a video of what it looks like.
A choice here?
Yeah, I'm seeing a sperm swimming real quick, Michael Phelps a sperm.
So on the left side of the video is sperm as it usually is, which is doing the worm.
It's just faced. Go on for gold, and then on the right it's finished. Yes. On the right is what happens when the sperm has an inhibitor. Okay, so it's a very subdued sperm, very chilled out sperm.
So basically the scientists are saying that they could potentially take that inhibitor to make an oral contraceptive pill that could be taken just before sex. And would prevent pregnancy for a short time. That's why we're calling it an on demand contraception.
We'll be back right after this.
Okay, So you're saying that this contraception has worked well in mice, but I know you said it's still a while off until it's available. Do we have any indication yet about whether this will actually be successful in humans.
Well, the next episode tests it on rabbits before we get to humans, and researchers say they are optimistic. They actually say the human reproductive systems are even more suitable for this type of drug than mice. And the reason there is that female mice don't have a cervix like humans to provide a barrier between the vagina and uterus. Basically, in short, mice have less barriers on the way to
the journey of fertilization. So if this new drug does work in mice, it's pretty good signs for human effectiveness.
Okay, So my natural next question, Sam, would you take it absolutely?
I think that I've actually said this on the public record before I'll search it and try to find it.
That I would have no problem. And I think that there is a changing attitude amongst young men what do you think your friends would do? I think they would all take it.
Okay, friends of Sam right into us, even if you're not Sam's friends.
We'd love to hear from you.
We're doing a poll at the moment to understand what sentiments in our audience are about this issue, and we'd love to hear from you. There is a link in the show notes if you want to go fill it out. It'll take you thirty seconds. And I think it's a really interesting topic.
I'm having a look at some of the results now. I feel like I'm calling an election, Zara, but I am seeing an early trend towards a yes vote for the question of would you trust a male contraceptive pill if scientists confirmed its safety and effectiveness. The pole still open, so if you're listening, have a vote and we'll check in with the results tomorrow.
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