A new male contraceptive is showing promising results in the early stages of human clinical trials, meaning it could launch a new era of reproductive technologies.
“I think we as a society, especially younger men, millennials, are realizing that we need to change the overbearing reliance on women as a whole as the main users of contraception and family planning,” said Kevin Eisenfrats, the CEO and co-founder of the start-up Contraline that is developing the contraceptive.
Contraline’s product, Adam, is a non-permanent and non-hormonal male contraceptive implant that functions similarly to an intrauterine device in women.
Adam is a gel that is injected into the vas deferens, the tubes that allow sperm to travel out of the male reproductive system into the urethra. The product forms a physical barrier preventing the travel of sperm through the vas deferens and degrades on its own after a certain period of time.
Eisenfrats told the Washington Examiner that the intended time frame of efficacy is currently one to three years, but there is a reversal procedure for patients who wish to remove the gel before that period ends.
The first in-human trial for Adam started in 2022 in Australia and has demonstrated promising results in the first 25 patients. Contraline is already recruiting participants in a multi-hundred-person study in the United States that Eisenfrats said will likely start in 2025.
Eisenfrats said the trial is a “proof of concept study” to demonstrate that Adam is non-toxic and safe, a critical first step in the approval process for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“This is a first-in-class product,” Eisenfrats said. “No one has ever done this before,” he said, noting that there will need to be an extensive FDA review before Adam is released on the market.
Women carry the majority of contraceptive responsibility, in part due to limited options for male contraception.
Condoms and vasectomies, the irreversible cutting of the vas deferens, are the only two choices for male-initiated contraception currently available.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that vasectomy rates have increased substantially since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case made abortion rights a state-level matter. Academic studies have corroborated some of this speculation, finding that more men who are under 30 and childless have been significantly more likely to seek vasectomy consultation than before Dobbs.
Condom usage is also significantly lower than female contraceptive use. A 2022 study by the healthcare think-tank KFF found that only 22% of males reported using a condom the last time they had sex.
By contrast, 65% of sexually active women between 18 and 49 report using some form of contraception, including either condoms or oral contraceptives. Over 70% of all women have used hormonal oral contraceptives at one point in their lives.
Approximately one-third of women report experiencing side effects from hormonal contraception, such as mood changes, weight gain, and changes in menstruation patterns, with most saying they have experienced multiple side effects. Over half of those women say their experiences have been worse than expected.
An internal study of hopeful Adam patients indicates that Contraline’s core demographic of males between the ages of 20 and 29 are concerned about both the lack of options in male contraception and the burdens on women for preventing pregnancy.
Over 75% of prospective Adam patients say that they “want more control” over their reproductive health, while nearly 62% said they were interested in the product because their partner experienced problems with her choice of contraception.
Over 85% of respondents said they were excited about Adam’s potential for “removing some burden off women as the main users of contraception.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“It’s a little bit about control, about predictability,” Eisenfrats said. “Men want to step up.”
Based on the timeline, Eisenfrats said Adam will launch on the market as early as 2027.