Morford: Male birth control is already here. Guess who's blocking it?

[niyad]

Male birth control is already here. Guess who’s blocking it?

By Mark Morford on May 1, 2017 at 1:45 PM



The maverick: Professor Sujoy Guha


Women have lots of contraceptive options, none of them very good and all with lots of room for improvement


One simple shot, and it's done. One more, and it's undone.



All your suspicions are probably correct. All your most depressing hunches about capitalism’s true nature usually prove, in many cases, all too true.Shall we sum it up, one more time? It goes something like this:
Just because a brilliant, relatively simple invention would save lives, shift the global paradigm, upend the lopsided, hugely unfair gender/procreation dynamic, help curb global overpopulation and diminish multiple, long-standing cultural and religious stigmas, doesn’t mean capitalism can let it happen. Why? You already know why.

Take, for one fine and telling example: birth control for men. Have you heard? It’s done. It’s ready. It’s safe, it works, it’s simple and easy and extremely affordable and it was invented in rural India by a maverick, 76-year-old biomedical engineer named Sujoy Guha at a tiny, scruffy biomedical startup, because all the big pharma monoliths across the planet have worked very hard to block, halt, stall, balk at researching it for themselves. It’s a tremendous threat, you see, to their female-contraception profits. And, as we are all reminded nearly every single day, capitalism’s No. 1 rule is forever inviolable: No one and nothing – not childbirth, not disease, not the environment, not human health or love or humanitarian progress – nothing f—ks with the bottom line.

Behold, the sad-but-still-hopeful tale of RISUG, (“reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance”), as reported by Bloomberg (though Wired reported on it as far back as 2011). RISUG is a gel that, once injected into a man’s scrotum in a simple, one-time, 15-minute outpatient procedure, stays put for years and knock’s out sperm’s viability, until another simple injection reverses it.It really does appear to be just that simple, just that inspired. And the story of Guha’s invention is one full of bravery and smarts, scrappy industriousness and genuine concern for the fate of humanity.



$3 billion a year in profits, and everyone hates them. RISUG could change everything

Not that you’d know it in the West. Despite RISUG’s obvious, world-altering potential to completely upend the way we think about contraception, population control and who can now take responsibility for what, no major U.S. pharma will go near it. Not because it’s dangerous. Not because it’s untested. Not because it would require relatively little in the way of further clinical trials in U.S. to get it approved. And not only because all U.S. pharma companies are run by rich, middle-aged white guys who are so monstrously limited in imagination, so entirely lacking in, well, balls, they all collectively freak out at the idea of trying to market what amounts to a tiny, one-time needle-shot into their precious man-bits.

. . . .

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2017/05/01/male-birth-control-is-already-here-guess-whos-blocking-it/#photo-792747

[HAB911]

1. I'm sure Fundies

also consider it murder

[niyad]

2. no doubt

[hopeforchange2008]

3. Every sperm is sacred!! /nt

[volstork]

39. Damn.

You beat me to it!


(Notice I said "beat.&quot

[FSogol]

4. Molford's premise falls apart when you realize that there are 200,000+ vascetomies performed in the

US yearly. Vasectomies are a heck of a lot more invasive than a scrotal injection. Also, won't a sperm that manages to get through this BC scheme be highly damaged and cause horrific birth defects? Not to mention the other health benefits of using a condom.

[Orrex]

14. A sperm that gets through and is "highly damaged" likely won't reach the ovum

At best, it'll swim in a circle until it croaks.

[FSogol]

24. and if it is a male sperm, it won't stop and ask for directions?

[Orrex]

26. Probably not, but it's hard to fold a map under those conditions

[Orrex]

16. There's a vas deferens between between an injection and surgery

Sorry--just trying to get that joke out of the way before anyone gets testy.

[MindPilot]

19. Are you channeling Pinboy3niner?

or are just trying to bust our stones?

[Orrex]

29. I can only aspire (nt)

[FSogol]

23. You really seemed to grasp the problem. You could say you have it by the short hairs.

[Freethinker65]

28. Ha!

[StevieM]

18. It's a pretty solid and safe birth control measure. Here is the Wikipedia article about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance

[FSogol]

25. Yeah, I skimmed an article about it a month or so ago. Looks promising, but I wouldn't

want to be the first to volunteer.

[ismnotwasm]

5. Men do tend to be more..careful about hurting their reproductive parts

Although to be fair--all that exposed flesh makes them vulnerable to pain and damage.

I do wish we would get on with male birth control already--it will NOT replace the need for condoms and safe sex practices but it certainly should be available

[niyad]

6. so very true.

[bullsnarfle]

37. Awwwwwww...

poor widdle mens, boo-hoo...

I'll bet if they all had an effing 10 pound baby after 36 hours of labor with no epidural they would be happy as a mutha to get that scrote shot.

[jberryhill]

43. Then who is buying all of the penis and scrotum piercing jewelry?

[ismnotwasm]

46. I am speaking from nursing experience

Anecdotal only.

[jberryhill]

47. From a public health perspective...

I'd be curious to know whether it was more likely that:

(a) unwanted pregnancies would be reduced by introduction of this into the market, or

(b) unwanted pregnancies and STD's would be increased by the predictable offsetting predilection of men to lie about using it as an inducement not to use a condom.

My hunch is (b), but that's just a hunch.

Not that it matters as to whether it "should or should not" be available. If it is safe and effective, and someone thinks they can make money selling it, of course that's all that marketability requires.

[WillowTree]

7. I'd pay Big Money to see American men lining up in droves to get an injection into their scrotums.

Just sayin'.

[niyad]

8. as long as i have the concession stand!!

[WillowTree]

12. Deal!

[enough]

9. But wouldn't that damage the sacred elixir of male power?

[niyad]

10. shhhhh

[nykym]

11. If men were able

to get pregnant it would be considered a holy sacrament.
And the laws for choice would be changed overnite

[niyad]

13. "if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament"

[nykym]

15. thank you knew I forgot something just got swept up in the moment

[niyad]

17. that's okay, the point is correct, no matter how expressed

[mercuryblues]

33. If men

could get pregnant birth control pills would be sold in vending machines, be chewable and bacon flavored.

[Freddie]

54. And everyone would be an only child

[niyad]

56. YES

[countryjake]

21. What we said a long long time ago...

[MindPilot]

20. Birth control will really come of age when

there is a morning after pill for men.

[Ilsa]

22. RW nutters probably think Planned Parenthood

has kept the lid on this so they can get rich "murdering babies."

[bucolic_frolic]

27. Add it to beer and hot dogs

problem solved

[PoliticAverse]

30. "Nor is it part of the $3 billion/year disposable condom industry." - yeah because unlike condoms...

it doesn't offer any protection against sexually transmitted disease transmission.

Also RISUG doesn't offer any protection against being lied to. "You don't need any birth control, I'm on RISUG, trust me!".

[meow2u3]

32. Unlike condoms, RISUG doesn't protect against STDs

In other words, if a guy had "the shot", he may not be getting a woman pregnant any time soon, but he could give her an STI.

[oldcynic]

38. Politic, maybe that explains the woman with the male escort

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-39777609

[IronLionZion]

31. Screw big pharma, why doesn't small pharma get on it?

Even if capitalism is pure demonic evil , why doesn't some small company start offering it so that they could profit from it?

I'm a male and I would totally do male birth control. Plenty of men get vasectomies. In fact, there's often an increase during March Madness basketball games so they can stay home for a few days.

[Hekate]

34. Kick. Rec. Bookmark. I had no idea this was out there...

Incredible. I hope Dr Guha lives long enough to see this sweep the planet.

[JoeStuckInOH]

35. I'm curious as to why the doctor is holding condoms up as an example of "female contraception". ??

[img][/img]
Women have lots of contraceptive options, none of them very good and all with lots of room for improvement

The article seems to be saying that the $3B in condoms profits is a major political roadblock for the RISUG. Which I can totally believe because money always wins out.

But I do believe that condoms are indeed a MALE contraceptive device and they are already inundated into the market. So it's not like the market doesn't have an existing male contraceptive solution... heck, condoms are probably the most common product out there.

I'm just not seeing the sexist angle, here. The money angle, though... definitely explains alot. Threatening to end a $3B stranglehold in any market is going to be a tough battle against the powers that be.

[cstanleytech]

36. I suspect the main thing holding it back is this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reversible_inhibition_of_sperm_under_guidance#Potential_hazards

Until its proven to actually be safe it wont be allowed to be sold.

[nykym]

40. Ever listen to the

end of the commercials for the so called wonder drugs advertised on TV

[cstanleytech]

48. Immaterial to the issue at hand which as of this time it has not won approval to be sold. nt

[jberryhill]

52. Yes, the FDA requires that of regulated drugs... supplements and so on, not so much

Basically, it is a recitation of everything that happened to people in the various study populations, whether it can be connected with the drug or not.

If you are testing a skin cream for burns, say, and some guy has a heart attack during the study, then "heart attack" is going to be in that recitation.

At the end of the day, had the drug not cleared the hurdles of "safe and effective", it would not be marketed at all. Do unknown risks come up later? Yep. Have pharma companies been caught fudging results before? Yep.

But, yeah, you certainly don't hear how many people died driving whatever model car is advertised in a car commercial, because nobody requires that either.

[jberryhill]

44. That and there is no way for a woman to know a man has/is using it

[Mariana]

51. A wise woman would insist on condom use

if SHE isn't using BC of her own, if she wants to avoid pregnancy. You know, just like wise men who don't want to be fathers have done for decades, when women said they were on BC. People lie, that's just a fact.

Depending the the circumstances, men and women alike might be wise to insist on condom use anyway, to prevent STD's.

[Freddie]

55. I could see this being popular with married or long term couples

Wife goes to the doctor appointment to witness.
For all the MRAs who are terrified of being "trapped" into child support payments - here ya go.

[mountain grammy]

41. I think it should be injected into newborn infant males.

and can only be reversed as an adult decision with proper counseling and a large down payment for the future child.

This could change everything.

[SwissTony]

42. I hope this is a joke!!!

This is not funny....sterilize newborns...Sheesh.

[mountain grammy]

45. Yeah, but I've been thinking of a futuristic story

along these lines, and not permanent sterilization. Birth control.

[madinmaryland]

49. It's great the way it works, but what about protection from STD's?

It will have no effect against STD's, which could increase the rate of AIDS, Syphilis, etc.

[Mariana]

50. Most birth control methods do nothing to prevent STD's.

They prevent pregnancy, which is what is what they are supposed to do. Safe and effective birth control is valuable in and of itself. Prevention of STD's is important, but it is a separate issue.

[LongTomH]

53. The intellectual property rights to RISUG have been acquired for the US by the Parsemus Foundation

https://www.parsemusfoundation.org/projects/vasalgel/

https://www.parsemusfoundation.org/projects/vasalgel/vasalgel-faqs/