New Male Contraception In Trial

A new male contraceptive trial has been extended to three additional study sites in the United States.
"We haven't even opened our doors yet, and men are already contacting us," said Janelle Antil, clinical trials coordinator for Shepherd Medical Company.
"We figured it was a pretty good sign, so we decided to take a chance on expanding."
The manufacturer is designing a new male contraceptive dubbed the IVD (Intra Vas Device).
The trials have extended to Minnesota, Louisiana and Florida.
IVD is a long-term contraceptive designed as an alternative to vasectomy.
The new device aims to block sperm by plugging the tube they travel through (called the vas deferens) on the way to joining with the rest of the semen – in a vasectomy, the tube is simply cut.
Neither solution interferes with libido or masculinity, but researchers hope men will find the plug idea more appealing.
"Somehow psychologically, it's a little easier to think about something being added than something being cut," said Elaine Lissner, director of the non-profit Male Contraception Information Project based in San Francisco.
"They put in two tiny, soft silicone plugs per side, and any sperm that make it past the first plug are stopped by the second. It's not rocket science, but it seems to do the job."
Irreversibility risk
However, Lissner stressed that the method is only intended for men who do not plan having any more children, although reversibility was shown to be effective in monkeys after seven months.
"It's a lot easier to pull the plugs out than to find the best, most expensive micro-surgeon to sew a vas deferens back together. So that's a plus for the IVD," said Lissner.
"But we know that in a vasectomy, even if you can get sperm flowing again, the chances of a pregnancy go down about 10 per cent for each year the man had the vasectomy.
"Only time will tell if it's the same for the IVD."
The current study is the second one to research IVD use in men.
In the pilot study, the new contraceptive was very effective, where all 30 men either had no sperm in their semen or had levels too low to cause a pregnancy.
from SCENTA