Will Men Swallow Pregnancy Pill?

Contraceptive pills for men have been successfully tested by Shanghai experts working with Scotland's Edinburgh University in the first experiment of its kind in the world.

"This is a great breakthrough in the process of helping husbands share the burden of contraception in the new century," Zhu Huibing, vice-director of Shanghai Institute of Family Planning Technical Instruction, told China Daily in an exclusive interview.

Zhu's laboratory has successfully completed the programme launched by the world Contraceptive Development Network.

Edinburgh University also revealed part of the research report last month.

In Shanghai, 30 men in their 30s, all married with children, voluntarily took part in the research which ended in March.

They took one or two pills containing progestin every day for periods ranging from six months to one year.

Progestin is a synthetic hormone combination commonly used by women in the world to prevent pregnancy.

First developed in the 1960s, it has been improved over the years to increase its effectiveness and reduce side effects.

It has been used by women before now being applied to men, Zhu said.

"This is the first time to apply progestin to men in the world," he said.

The hormone contained in this kind of combination is usually found in women, especially after they become pregnant.

Volunteers were implanted with pellets which slowly released testosterone to maintain their male hormones as well as their sex drives.

Zhu said the effects of the project were clear.

Over 90 per cent of the volunteers stopped producing sperm during the period of experiment.

All of the volunteers were in a good mood during the tests, and hardly any side effects were detected during research and the three months afterwards, Zhu said.

After the men stopped taking the pills, they all recovered their sperm production two or three months later. Very few of them gained weight, Zhu said.

Doctors from Edinburgh University were also satisfied with their research on another 30 volunteers, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.

"We are very encouraged and we are ready to take that work forward even further," Dr Richard Anderson told the Post.

"We could have a male pill on the market within five years."

Zhu said that in their next research project they would try to implant the third-generation progestin in the men's bodies instead of asking volunteers to take the pill.





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