Latest news with #YourChoiceTherapeutics
Man of Many
3 hours ago
- Health
- Man of Many
Male Birth Control Pill Passes Safety Trial in US
By Ben McKimm - News Published: 29 Jul 2025 Share Copy Link 0 Readtime: 3 min Every product is carefully selected by our editors and experts. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more. For more information on how we test products, click here. YCT‑529 male pill passes U.S. safety trial, no major side effects reported Non‑hormonal drug blocks vitamin‑A receptor, stopping sperm production initiation Study doses up to 180 mg showed unchanged hormones, mood, heart rate Requires three months of daily use to start or restore fertility Other male contraceptives coming: NES/T gel, ADAM reversible vas‑block implant Lads, the time has come. There's a male birth control pill on its way, and if we ask the ladies in the room, it's about damn time. It's been a great run for the rubber industry, and the vasectomy boys need a shoutout, too, but the ladies in our lives have been holding it down for too long with hormonal birth control pills and painful IUDs. It's our turn to carry some of the birth control burden, and with the new pill passing a safety trial in the US, it's just around the corner. Created by YourChoice Therapeutics, a single ascending dose study showed that up to 180mg of YCT-529 had no effects on heart rate, hormone (follicle-stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, and testosterone), sex hormone-binding globulin or inflammatory biomarker levels, sexual desire or mood, which is a substantial requirement in contraceptive development. We don't know how effective the pill will be at reducing sperm yet, but when you consider nearly half of all pregnancies worldwide are unintended, that information couldn't come sooner. Image: Unsplash The first non-hormonal oral contraceptive for men, YCT-529, blocks a vitamin A metabolite from binding to its receptor in the testes, preventing the chain of gene-expression changes required to start the sperm-making process. Sounds complicated, but Stephanie Page, an endocrinologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who wasn't involved in the study and spoke to says, 'We really need more reversible contraceptive methods for men.' However, Page doesn't go quite so far as to say that the large claim of no side-effects on a small 16-person human trial should be taken so literally. 'I think it would be overstating the data to say they know much about side effects yet,' she told the website. 'Every medication on the market has side effects.' It takes three months for the body to produce mature sperm cells. That means the pills would take three months to become effective, and three months to resume normal sperm production. YCT-529 is not the only reversible male birth control method being developed. There's a gel called NES/T in the clinical trial pipeline in the US, which is applied daily to the shoulders and upper arms before being absorbed into the bloodstream through the skin. There's also a hydrogel implant called ADAM, which acts as a reversible vasectomy by blocking the vas deferens.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Health
- Irish Independent
Contraceptive pill for men that doesn't alter hormones is safe to take, study suggests
Oral female contraceptive tablets have been available for 60 years but there has never been an authorised male version. Female tablets work by altering hormone levels to reduce the risk of conception but this approach has proven difficult in men because of severe side effects such as infertility and mood swings. These side effects are common in female versions. YourChoice Therapeutics has developed the first non-hormonal contraceptive for men which works by blocking the production of a protein, which is needed to produce sperm, and not meddling with hormones. The drug stops production of retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-alpha) in the body and this prevents it binding to vitamin A compounds and subsequently prevents sperm production. Animal studies showed this mechanism to be 99pc effective and also found that sperm levels returned to normal after the medication was stopped, showing the contraceptive to be temporary and reversible. Human trials began in 2023 when 16 healthy men who had already had a vasectomy were recruited to test the safety of the drug in people. Data, published this week, show it to be safe and well-tolerated with no clinically relevant side effects in a significant step forward for the prospects of the drug, known as YCT-529. The trial of 16 British men gave participants either the tablet or a placebo and conducted analysis on the participants to measure their blood, urine, mood and overall health. Four different dosages were tested and all were found to be well-tolerated. The highest dose was the same as what was shown to be effective as a contraceptive in animal trials. There was no reduction in testosterone levels, sex drive or any other hormonal imbalance, the scientists found. 'The positive results from this first clinical trial laid the groundwork for a second trial, where men receive YCT-529 for 28 days and 90 days, to study safety and changes in sperm parameters,' the study authors write in their peer-reviewed study in the journal Communications Medicine.
Telegraph
2 days ago
- Health
- Telegraph
New contraceptive pill for men is safe, study suggests
A new male contraceptive pill tested on British men in a world first is safe for use, a study suggests. Oral female contraceptive tablets have been available for 60 years but there has never been an authorised male version. Female tablets work by altering hormone levels to reduce the risk of conception but this approach has proven difficult in men because of severe side effects such as infertility and mood swings. These side effects are common in female versions. A third of men say they would take a contraceptive pill if one was available to them. YourChoice Therapeutics has developed the first non-hormonal contraceptive for men which works by blocking the production of a protein, which is needed to produce sperm, and not meddling with hormones. The drug stops production of retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-alpha) in the body and this prevents it binding to vitamin A compounds and subsequently prevents sperm production. Animal studies showed this mechanism to be 99 per cent effective and also found that sperm levels returned to normal after the medication was stopped, showing the contraceptive to be temporary and reversible. Human trials began in 2023 when 16 healthy men who had already had a vasectomy were recruited to test the safety of the drug in people. Data, published this week, show it to be safe and well-tolerated with no clinically relevant side effects in a significant step forward for the prospects of the drug, known as YCT-529. The trial of 16 British men gave participants either the tablet or a placebo and conducted analysis on the participants to measure their blood, urine, mood and overall health. Four different dosages were tested and all were found to be well-tolerated. The highest dose was the same as what was shown to be effective as a contraceptive in animal trials. 'Positive results' There was no reduction in testosterone levels, sex drive or any other hormonal imbalance, the scientists found. 'The positive results from this first clinical trial laid the groundwork for a second trial, where men receive YCT-529 for 28 days and 90 days, to study safety and changes in sperm parameters,' the study authors write in their peer-reviewed study in the journal Communications Medicine. Further trials will now gather more data on the long-term safety profile of the drugs and if this is found to be acceptable, the next stage of clinical trials will begin to determine its precise effectiveness in humans. The data are needed before regulators can make a decision on whether a drug is safe and effective enough to be approved for human use. The study authors add that the safety bar for contraceptives is much higher and harder to reach than it is for drugs designed to cure or treat a disease because it is preventative and used by healthy people daily for a long period of time. 'More attractive to men' Akash Bakshi, a co-founder and the chief executive of YourChoice, has previously suggested the medicine, if approved, could be sent out alongside at-home testing kits for men to check their sperm levels are too low to cause pregnancy. He said: 'YCT-529 blocks a protein – not hormones – to prevent sperm production. We believe this will be more attractive to men, most of whom view pregnancy prevention as a shared responsibility even despite today's limited contraceptive options, which are permanent or only moderately effective. 'The dearth of options reinforces the centuries-old view that pregnancy prevention is 'a woman's responsibility'. It's not, and we're committed to advancing the first hormone-free birth control pill for men that's effective, convenient, and temporary.' While non-hormonal male contraceptives are in trials and at the early stage of development and testing, other hormone-powered alternatives are also in the works. A gel which is rubbed into the shoulders of a man every day is one such medicine and contains Nestorone (segesterone acetate) and testosterone. This lowers sperm counts in around eight weeks and is in testing currently on more than 200 men in the US. The gel is rubbed into the shoulders or shoulder blades because it is easy to reach for the user and it is also unlikely a child or woman would come into direct contact with the gel in this location. The hormones soak into the skin and are absorbed by the bloodstream. But accidental exposure to the gel could cause premature puberty in children and acne or excessive hair growth in women.
Gizmodo
3 days ago
- Health
- Gizmodo
Non-Hormonal Male Birth Control Pill Passes Key Test
For many couples, the numerous options for birth control still come with plenty of hassles. But scientists are working on an alternative approach that might be more appealing for some: a non-hormonal male birth control pill with possibly very few side effects. The drug is codenamed YCT-529, and it's being developed by the company YourChoice Therapeutics, in conjunction with researchers from the University of Minnesota and others. In early human trial results published this week, YCT-529 appeared to be safe and tolerable. The drug is now being tested in larger-scale studies. Injectable Male Birth Control Effective for at Least 2 Years, Says Biotech Startup YCT-529 (previously known as GPHR-529) targets how the body interacts with vitamin A, which helps maintain fertility in mammals. It blocks a protein that binds to a form of vitamin A (retinoic acid) in our cells, known as retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-α). By selectively blocking RAR-α and not other similar proteins, the hope is that YCT-529 will reduce sperm production to zero without causing any major side effects. Importantly, this process is also meant to be reversible once people stop taking the drug. The company began its first clinical trial of YCT-529 in late 2023, and the findings of the trial were published this week in Communications Medicine. It involved 16 healthy men who received either a daily placebo or varying doses of YCT-529; some were also given the drug in combination with food. Phase I trials are primarily intended to test a drug's safety, and YCT-529 seemed to pass with flying colors. Compared to controls, the men on YCT-529 experienced no changes in their heart rate, sex drive, mood, or levels of fertility-related hormones. In fact, no adverse events likely related to the drug were documented at all, the researchers found. There was some evidence that food might slow people's absorption of the drug, though more study is needed to know for sure. 'These results warrant further clinical development of YCT-529,' the study authors wrote. With a New Gel, the Future of Male Birth Control Looks Bright As promising as this data looks, it is still very early days. That said, YourChoice Therapeutics has already forged ahead with a larger Phase II study of YCT-529. And the race to create the world's first reversible male birth control is only heating up. Other research teams and companies have developed contraceptive gels and implants that have also shown promise in human trials so far. Soon enough, men will hopefully have several birth control options to pick from, just like women.
Mint
3 days ago
- Health
- Mint
Male contraceptive YCT-529 a breakthrough? Birth control pill that temporarily halts sperm without hormones clears trial
In a new development, men may soon be able to equitably share the responsibility of avoiding pregnancy along with their partners as YCT-529, a birth control experimental pill has passed its initial human safety test, making another way for contraception. It will reportedly cease sperms temporarily without hinderance to hormones. Unlike conventional hormonal birth control pills, the innovative pill developed by YourChoice Therapeutics temporarily halts sperm production while leaving testosterone levels unchanged, New York Post reported. It functions by inhibiting a protein named retinoic acid receptor alpha, which is essential in the sperm creation process. Initial studies indicate that its effects are completely reversible. In tests involving male mice, YCT-529 significantly decreased sperm production, leading to reversible infertility after only four weeks of treatment. When these treated males bred with females, the drug demonstrated a 99% success rate in preventing pregnancy. Comparable outcomes were observed in male nonhuman primates, with sperm counts declining within two weeks of beginning the treatment. Importantly, fertility was fully restored in both species once the drug was discontinued. Mice recovered within six weeks, while primates regained fertility between 10 and 15 weeks. No side effects were noted in either group throughout the studies, the report added. The initial human trial of the medication included 16 healthy males aged 32 to 59, all of whom had previously had vasectomies, a surgical operation that severs and blocks the tubes transporting sperm from the testicles to prevent conception. This additional safety measure was required because no nonhormonal male contraceptive had ever been evaluated in humans before. Scientists wanted to eliminate any chance of permanently impacting fertility, in case participants wished to have children later, Nadja Mannowetz, co-founder and chief science officer of YourChoice Therapeutics, informed Scientific American. She clarified the objective was not to assess effectiveness but to determine if the drug was tolerated well and to observe how it accumulated in the body. Researchers tested multiple doses and found no concerning side effects. There were no changes in heart rate, hormone levels, inflammation, sexual function, or mood. This finding is important because hormonal contraceptives have previously been linked to side effects like mood swings, decreased libido, weight gain, and acne. Mannowetz pointed out that across all doses, the drug demonstrated good and rapid bioavailability, which means it remained active in the body without breaking down too quickly, the report mentioned.
