National Post
Doctors are on the cusp of launching the first new male contraceptive in more than a century. But rather than a Big Pharma lab, the breakthrough is emerging from a university startup in the heart of rural India.
Years of human trials on the injectable, sperm-zapping product are coming to an end, and researchers are preparing to submit it for regulatory approval. Results so far show it’s safe, effective and easy to use-but gaining little traction with drugmakers. That’s frustrating its inventor, who says his technique could play a crucial role in condom-averse populations. . . . [Full text]
The article illustrates the significant influence of large pharmaceutical companies and the central role of profit-driven market economics in setting expectations and establishing standards of care for birth control products designed to solve what is portrayed as the problem of female fertility. The product described in the article is designed for males and is based upon the male paradigm of reproductive physiology (i.e., it responds to continuous 24/7 possibility of conception from puberty to death). Contraceptive products for women marketed by the major drug companies are also based on the male paradigm of reproductive physiology, despite the fact that female reproductive cycles involve episodic fertility and conception is biologically possible for only a fraction of a woman’s reproductive lifespan.