Male Contraception News: Rooting Excitement in Reality

The recent news coming out of India is cause for excitement amongst those interested in male contraception. Dr. Sujoy Guha and the rest of the RISUG team reported completing clinical trials in humans on the subcontinent, paving the way for access to the long-acting male contraceptive in India. News reports are saying that RISUG is now just waiting on final approvals from the Indian government, and that production could begin in as little as 6-7 months. ​

On paper, these advancements are incredible. RISUG would become the first new method of male contraception since the advent of the vasectomy. Needless to say, it would be a proverbial game-changer, paving the way for even more methods to hit markets in countries around the world. For those in the male contraception research and development community, this ultimate goal of a menu of options would mean the realization of a shared collective dream and validation of decades of effort and millions of dollars of investment.

There is a real risk, though, when it comes to discussing potential or perceived progress in our field. Search “male contraceptives” on Google News and you’re often likely to find at least a few misleading articles. Such is the case this week with news about RISUG, with articles screaming out headlines like, “Indian researchers say male contraceptive injections are six months away from consumer use”, “Male Contraception Could Be Available In 2020 – At last!”, “World’s first MALE birth control could be just six months away”, “World’s first male contraceptive injection could be available in six months”, and “First male birth control injection almost ready for penises”. When the lede is misleading, it can create false hope and unreasonable expectations with respect to market availability or product characteristics of new male methods. The last headline is particularly egregious, given that the injection does not, in fact, go into a penis.

As we shared in our blog post “Male Birth Control: Where Is It?”, the timelines for getting a new drug or product to market are not rigidly defined. There are many moving pieces that come along with identifying a potential intervention, and then proving its efficacy and safety. If you’re able to do so, you then have the realities of taking it to market to contend with: mass production, marketing, distribution, regulatory compliance, etc. The unfortunate truth that many people do not understand, and many news agencies do not report, is that it could take years before a product is approved for use and available at your local pharmacy.

This disconnect between what is reported and what actually transpires is dangerous for many reasons, including:

1. It diminishes the general public’s interest in male contraception. When people are incorrectly told something is coming soon only to find that it may be years away, their attention moves on to something else, anything more immediate and pressing. We need open, honest, and continued dialogue around the need for new male methods to ensure they make it to market.
2. It discourages those in the male contraception research and development community from engaging with the media and the public. Misinformation creates unrealistic expectations, and often when those expectations are not met, a feeling of distrust can arise. This distrust is counterproductive to informed discussion and decisions that will help us reach our common goals.
3. It seriously underestimates the effort and funding required to develop new products. We have grantees and board members who have dedicated decades of research towards developing new methods of male contraception, typically while chasing a share of a very small pool of resources to fund their continued efforts. Male contraception research and development is no easy task, and coverage of these efforts should be mindful of the actual timelines that constrain this work.

This is no attempt to be cynical or to suppress the excitement around Dr. Guha and his team’s apparent success and progress. Getting a new method approved and on the market anywhere will be a necessary first step in ushering in even more male contraceptive methods. Approval on the Indian subcontinent is a grand first step towards the eventual approval of methods by the FDA and other approval agencies. In fact, MCI is supporting the development of similar products of RISUG – Vasalgel and Echo-VR, which are working towards approval in the United States. They are still years away from approval, but we’re excited for what RISUG’s success means for the field. 

Our vision is to arrive at a level of parity when it comes to method mix so that couples are empowered with the resources they need to make the best decision(s) regarding family planning. This vision guides our mission each day, particularly with respect to our advocacy efforts. We celebrate Dr. Guha and his team’s accomplishments along with the rest of the world, but we feel compelled to also defend them by countering the false narrative that people should expect his, or any other male contraceptive product, in the coming months. Pushing this narrative is irresponsible and unnecessary. We will have new methods of male contraception on the market in the future. It’s just not as near a future as some news organizations would like you to believe. 

While work continues and we wait for more information on the progress with RISUG and other methods in development, there’s much that you can do to help accelerate things including:

1. Talk to your friends, partners, and loved ones about male contraception. Again, dialogue is key to ensuring interest continues and grows. 
2. Advocate for male contraception on your social media channels. Exact some ownership over your sexual reproduction by deciding for yourself what method, existing or not, makes the most sense for you and your partner and then advocate for such on the platforms available to you.
3. Talk to us or any other group working on male contraception. Practitioners in the field are passionate about the topic, are privy to information not readily available, and eager to gain the support of the general public. Please contact us and start a conversation!
4. Financially support male contraception research and development. The cold, hard reality is that it takes a great deal of money to bring a new product to market, and there is little of it available for those doing the work. The large pharmaceutical companies are not interested in funding early research, so the onus is on groups like MCI to fill the funding gap. 
5. Reach out to your elected officials. Government funding for male contraception is growing, but is still limited. Those in the United States, contact your member of Congress and advocate for male methods. You can contact your representative via the Congressional operator at (202) 224-3121. 

Again, we can be counted among the many people excited about RISUG’s apparent success in India. And we are thrilled any time male contraception is covered in the media. As representatives and advocates, we feel compelled to pre-empt some of the future frustrations that will inevitably arise from misinformation reported by some media outlets.