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Virginia-based biotech company Contraline is testing a new type of male contraceptive akin to a vasectomy but made to be fully reversible. Today, the company announced that surgeons in Australia have safely performed the procedure on 23 men in an early-stage trial.
The approach uses a soft, water-based substance called a hydrogel that’s injected into the vas deferens—the pair of tubes in the male reproductive tract that transport mature sperm. Within 30 days of being inserted, the gel led to a more than 99 percent reduction in the number of moving sperm, according to the company. No serious side effects have been reported.
Kevin Eisenfrats, cofounder and CEO of Contraline, says it’s like an IUD for men. “Right now, there is nothing out there that’s long-lasting and reversible for men,” he says. “This is made for people who are not ready to have kids, are spacing out having kids, or think they are done having kids but maybe not ready for that permanent option.”
In a vasectomy, the vas deferens are cut and sealed so that sperm can’t travel from the testicles to the urethra, the tube inside the penis.
Contraline’s method involves making a small piercing in the scrotum and using a handheld injector to push the hydrogel through a catheter that’s connected to the vas deferens. The catheter is then taken out, and the puncture heals on its own.
Once injected, the hydrogel is meant to block sperm from getting into semen. Eisenfrats likens the gel to a coffee filter, where sperm are the coffee grounds. Sperm can’t get through the filter, but semen, a liquid, can still pass through.
The approach uses a soft, water-based substance called a hydrogel that’s injected into the vas deferens—the pair of tubes in the male reproductive tract that transport mature sperm. Within 30 days of being inserted, the gel led to a more than 99 percent reduction in the number of moving sperm, according to the company. No serious side effects have been reported.
Kevin Eisenfrats, cofounder and CEO of Contraline, says it’s like an IUD for men. “Right now, there is nothing out there that’s long-lasting and reversible for men,” he says. “This is made for people who are not ready to have kids, are spacing out having kids, or think they are done having kids but maybe not ready for that permanent option.”
In a vasectomy, the vas deferens are cut and sealed so that sperm can’t travel from the testicles to the urethra, the tube inside the penis.
Contraline’s method involves making a small piercing in the scrotum and using a handheld injector to push the hydrogel through a catheter that’s connected to the vas deferens. The catheter is then taken out, and the puncture heals on its own.
Once injected, the hydrogel is meant to block sperm from getting into semen. Eisenfrats likens the gel to a coffee filter, where sperm are the coffee grounds. Sperm can’t get through the filter, but semen, a liquid, can still pass through.
