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Speaker 1: My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda

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Speaker 1: Bunjelung Calcottin woman from Gadighl Country. The Daily oz acknowledges

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Speaker 1: that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the

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Speaker 1: Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

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Speaker 1: Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the

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Speaker 1: first peoples of these countries, both past and present.

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Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to the Daily os. It's Sam. Welcome

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Speaker 2: to tda's summer series. I hope you're having a nice

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Speaker 2: couple of weeks over summer, whether you're working, taking some

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Speaker 2: time off, headed to a music festival, or just you know,

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Speaker 2: hanging out with family and friends. This week, we're going

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Speaker 2: to share more of our favorite deep dives from twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty three, from some of our most popular interviews to

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Speaker 2: some stories you might have missed. I guess we're trying

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Speaker 2: to keep your company here over the summer. We'll be

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Speaker 2: back to some regular programming next week. Until then, here

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Speaker 2: is our summer series. The oral contraceptive pill was first

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Speaker 2: introduced in May of nineteen fifty, although it was only

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Speaker 2: available in Australia from nineteen sixty one. And that was

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Speaker 2: only to married women. We're now sixty two years later,

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Speaker 2: and while female contraceptives have become more varied and more accessible,

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Speaker 2: there's still no oral contraception option for men. But a

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Speaker 2: successful trial in mice means that could change.

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Speaker 3: Where are things at in terms of male contraception generally,

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Speaker 3: I feel like it's not something we hear about very

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Speaker 3: often at all.

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Speaker 2: Well, put it this way, of all the contraceptives currently

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Speaker 2: in existence, only two of male use, and we're talking

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Speaker 2: there about vasectomes and condoms.

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Speaker 4: That doesn't surprise me. There have been clinical.

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Speaker 2: Trials of hormonal contraceptive pills with around a ninety four

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Speaker 2: percent success rate, but some of those trials have been

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Speaker 2: abandoned because men were experiencing adverse side effects. We're talking

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Speaker 2: about things like acne, mood swings, or depression.

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Speaker 3: If only this was filmed and you could see my

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Speaker 3: reaction there, and I'm sure the reaction of any other

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Speaker 3: woman listening to this who has experienced the fun of

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Speaker 3: being on a constiou st pill. It seems like that

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Speaker 3: is something that is just by and by of being

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Speaker 3: on the pill. Why did they stop those clinical trials

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Speaker 3: for men experiencing those very same things.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think you're right, but the side effects argument

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Speaker 2: has come up again and again. For example, in twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 2: there was a lot of coverage about the fact that

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Speaker 2: a trial of a male hormonal contraception, which had been

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Speaker 2: commissioned by the World Health Organization was dropped because of

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Speaker 2: side effects. Fifty percent of people experienced acne, many experienced

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Speaker 2: some emotional disorders, thirty eight percent experienced and increased libido.

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Speaker 2: But you're right. You only have to read the information

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Speaker 2: sheet that comes with female hormonal contraceptives.

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Speaker 4: It's long, Well, it's very long. It's like a full

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Speaker 4: on document.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and there's a litany of warnings things like acne

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Speaker 2: and mood swings. Sure, the same as the male side effects,

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Speaker 2: but also for an increased risk of blood clots, deposed

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Speaker 2: blood clots.

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Speaker 3: When we were all talking about a possible harm caused

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Speaker 3: by the astrosenica vaccine and the government was announcing who

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Speaker 3: could get and who could have, I think there were

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Speaker 3: a lot of women who were looking at that and

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Speaker 3: just acknowledging the fact that the oral contraceptive also carries

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Speaker 3: risks for blood clotting. But that's just part of the

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Speaker 3: risk that we accept it's not wanting to have children.

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Speaker 2: It's part of the booklet. And that's all to say

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Speaker 2: that hormonal birth control is definitely not perfect for men

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Speaker 2: or for women.

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Speaker 3: It's not, and there is a lot of variation out

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Speaker 3: there for women, especially in what they can access for

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Speaker 3: birth control. There's non hormonal forms of female birth control

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Speaker 3: things like some IUDs. I'm not saying they're perfect either,

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Speaker 3: but there actually are options for what women can access today,

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Speaker 3: unlike men exactly.

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Speaker 4: And that's why this team of scientists have worked to

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Speaker 4: develop an on demand non hormonal birth control for men. Okay, wait,

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Speaker 4: take me through what that means.

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Speaker 2: So first I need to point out that this has

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Speaker 2: been really successful with mice, but it hasn't been tested

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Speaker 2: on humans yet, so there is a long way to

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Speaker 2: go and have that as the big grain of salt

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Speaker 2: that you listen to all of this, but I'll explain

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Speaker 2: how it works. One of the challenges with developing new

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Speaker 2: contraceptives for men is that after puberty, a man produces

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Speaker 2: about a thousand sperm a second, and that is a

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Speaker 2: lot to stop from reaching fertilization. This new contraception, instead

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Speaker 2: of trying to reduce sperm production, basically stops the sperm

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Speaker 2: from swimming. Now, in mammals, sperm is stored in a

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Speaker 2: dormant state, but during ejaculation, an enzyme is stimulated. It's

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Speaker 2: got a long name, so we're just going to call

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Speaker 2: it sac. And the scientists realize that this enzyme was

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Speaker 2: a key part of fertilization, so they identified a potential

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Speaker 2: inhibitor of that enzyme and went on to give that

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Speaker 2: inhibitor to male mice. They found that it rapidly and

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Speaker 2: temporarily renders mice infertile. Do you want to see a

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Speaker 2: video of what it looks like.

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Speaker 4: A choice here?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm seeing a sperm swimming real quick, Michael Phelps

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Speaker 3: a sperm.

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Speaker 2: So on the left side of the video is sperm

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Speaker 2: as it usually is, which is doing the worm.

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Speaker 4: It's just faced. Go on for gold, and then on

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Speaker 4: the right it's finished. Yes. On the right is what

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Speaker 4: happens when the sperm has an inhibitor. Okay, so it's

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Speaker 4: a very subdued sperm, very chilled out sperm.

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Speaker 2: So basically the scientists are saying that they could potentially

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Speaker 2: take that inhibitor to make an oral contraceptive pill that

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Speaker 2: could be taken just before sex. And would prevent pregnancy

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Speaker 2: for a short time. That's why we're calling it an

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Speaker 2: on demand contraception.

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Speaker 4: We'll be back right after this.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So you're saying that this contraception has worked well

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Speaker 3: in mice, but I know you said it's still a

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Speaker 3: while off until it's available. Do we have any indication

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Speaker 3: yet about whether this will actually be successful in humans.

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Speaker 2: Well, the next episode tests it on rabbits before we

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Speaker 2: get to humans, and researchers say they are optimistic. They

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Speaker 2: actually say the human reproductive systems are even more suitable

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Speaker 2: for this type of drug than mice. And the reason

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Speaker 2: there is that female mice don't have a cervix like

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Speaker 2: humans to provide a barrier between the vagina and uterus. Basically,

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Speaker 2: in short, mice have less barriers on the way to

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Speaker 2: the journey of fertilization. So if this new drug does

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Speaker 2: work in mice, it's pretty good signs for human effectiveness.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So my natural next question, Sam, would you take

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Speaker 3: it absolutely?

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Speaker 4: I think that I've actually said this on the public

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Speaker 4: record before I'll search it and try to find it.

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Speaker 2: That I would have no problem. And I think that

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Speaker 2: there is a changing attitude amongst young men what do

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Speaker 2: you think your friends would do? I think they would

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Speaker 2: all take it.

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Speaker 3: Okay, friends of Sam right into us, even if you're

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Speaker 3: not Sam's friends.

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Speaker 4: We'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 3: We're doing a poll at the moment to understand what

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Speaker 3: sentiments in our audience are about this issue, and we'd

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Speaker 3: love to hear from you. There is a link in

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Speaker 3: the show notes if you want to go fill it out.

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Speaker 3: It'll take you thirty seconds. And I think it's a

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Speaker 3: really interesting topic.

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Speaker 2: I'm having a look at some of the results now.

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Speaker 2: I feel like I'm calling an election, Zara, but I

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Speaker 2: am seeing an early trend towards a yes vote for

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Speaker 2: the question of would you trust a male contraceptive pill

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Speaker 2: if scientists confirmed its safety and effectiveness. The pole still open,

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Speaker 2: so if you're listening, have a vote and we'll check

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Speaker 2: in with the results tomorrow.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for joining us on the daily OS.

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Speaker 3: We'd love if you could give us a rating or

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Speaker 3: a review on whatever app you're using right now. It

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Speaker 3: helps new people find us and join the TDA community.

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Speaker 4: Have a great day,