Brit couple among first in world to try male contraceptive gel say it boosts sex drive
A BRITISH couple are among the first people in the world to use a male hormonal contraceptive gel - and they say it's even boosted libido.
James Owers, 29, and Diana Bardsley, from Edinburgh, are part of a ground-breaking clinical trial of a new form of birth control for men.
It's is a mixture of progesterone - which is in the female contraceptive pill - and testosterone.
The gel, called NES/T, comes in a "toothpaste-style" pump and is a similar consistency to hand sanitiser.
It has to be applied to the shoulders every day, which James say takes him less than 30 seconds to do.
The PhD student told The Sun Online: "You just squeeze a 50p-size piece out of the dispenser, which looks a bit like those posh toothpaste tubes.
"You just put it on your shoulders and let it dry in, then I get dressed and go about my day.
"The effort here is so low. It takes less time than brushing your teeth."
Sole contraceptive
For James and Diana, as well as the other 450 couples in the trial, it'll be their sole form of contraceptive for the next 12 months.
James said: "As these things become more widespread and people’s knowledge gets better and fingers crossed this works out, all excuses that men use to not get involved in birth control go away."
He has been using the gel since February and in that time he was regularly monitored to see whether it was having the desired effect on his sperm count.
As these things become more widespread, all excuses that men use to not get involved in birth control go away
James Owers
James said it took less than a couple of months for him to become infertile and in the last week they were given the green light for Diana to stop taking her contraceptive.
She has been either on the pill or the implant for the last 11 years.
James said: "She's excited to be 'free' of this. They come with many side-effects so it's as much to see what it's like without them."
As for the side-effects of the gel for James, he's virtually had none and says if anything it's boosted his sex drive.
"I've been using this for the last 10 to 11 weeks and I've experienced pretty much no effects.
"There's some small spots on my lower back, which have already begun to clear up and the only changes to my mood is increased libido, which isn't a problem for us."
'No bother'
He said the only slight inconvenience is that there can't be any skin to skin contact after application.
So, James was advised to wear a t-shirt in bed or take a shower in the evening - but says it's "been no bother at all".
He added: "The list of side effects is the same if not slightly less than what women have been having to endure for the past 60 years for their hormonal contraceptives.
"What we are asking of men here is less than what we’ve been asking of women for decades."
Addressing men directly, James said: "If you care about having an unwanted pregnancy it’s your responsibility.
"For guys that say this is too much effort, that is such a low bar, you really need to step up and take one."
Male contraceptive gel: How does it work?
The male contraceptive comes in a hormone-gel form.
Men rub the gel on their chest, shoulders and upper arms every day.
It contains a mixture of progesterone and testosterone — the former stops sperm production in the testes and the latter offsets the drop in testosterone caused by this.
If you didn't add testosterone back in, men can see negative side-effects like low mood, lack of sex-drive and weight gain.
One of the problems with a male hormonal contraceptive is that testosterone is metabolised quickly by the liver.
This means it can't be delivered effectively by a pill — but progress for other solutions has been building.
A 2016 trial of a hormone jab proved to be similarly effective to the female pill, but some participants had problems like depression and acne.
Scientists hope the gel version will have fewer negative effects for users.
Explaining the science behind the gel, Prof Richard Anderson, who is leading the study, told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine: "The way it works is that the two hormones between them switch off the hormones that come from the brain that stimulate the testes - and the testes would normally produce both sperm and testosterone.
"So if you switch off the testes you need to give back testosterone as an add back hormone to keep the guys feeling normal."
Without adding testosterone back in, men can experience unpleasant side-effects such as low mood, weight gain and a slump in libido.
He added: "For our couples taking part in the trial - the man will rub it onto his shoulder and when his sperm count gets down to zero they will use that as their only form of contraceptive for a year."
We've been doing these studies for a long time and all of the guys return to their normal sperm count
Prof Richard Anderson
"It comes out of a little canister with a pump on the top that gives you an exact dose so we know exactly what the guys are going to be getting.
"Obviously it's been tested out beforehand to make sure that the dose is right."
Asked about whether the gel could leave men infertile, he added: "We've been doing these studies for a long time and all of the guys return to their normal sperm count, so we've got absolutely no worries about that."
Scientists hope that the gel version, which is being tested in Sweden, Chile and Kenya, as well as the UK, will prove easier to use and have fewer negative side-effects.
If the results of the year-long trial are encouraging, the team hope that there will be interest from pharmaceutical companies to take the product to market.
- The trial is recruiting men aged between 18 and 50 who are in a stable relationship with a woman aged between 18 and 34. For more information call 0161 276 3296 (Manchester) or 0131 242 2669 (Edinburgh).
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