Post: #26

Fair enough, I assumed it'd be more expensive though. At least at first.

Post: #27

I wanted to bump this thread for an update I received via email on Vasalgel/RISUG:

Good News: Baboon Study has met funding goal and was partially successful.

Bad News: Apparently there was a slight hiccup with the baboon study (last step before human clinical trials) and they have to go back and re-do part of the study as half of the test group was not successful.

Quote:Three of the baboons had beautiful sperm numbers quickly - i.e. almost no sperm - and most of the other baboons' sperm numbers seemed to be dropping nicely. But just when we were getting ready to celebrate, several of the baboons' sperm numbers bounced back up! What the heck?!

You can bet it's been a stressful time around here. A lot is riding on this study. But after weeks of analysis and testing, we think we know what's going on. The method of collecting the semen likely dislodged the Vasalgel!

It turns out you can't just ask the male baboon to offer up a semen specimen for analysis. (The rabbits in the rabbit study were much more obliging, all it took was a "teaser" female nearby to get them in the mood ... ) To obtain the semen, the veterinarian uses a procedure called electroejaculation. A device with mild electric currents stimulates the nerves near the prostate gland, which creates contraction of nearby muscles - and ejaculation. This procedure is fairly commonly used in primates and other mammals - and humans with spinal cord injuries or other ejaculatory dysfunctions. However, it's different than a regular climax, and we think the electrical stimulation and intense contractions moved the Vasalgel within the vas deferens enough for it to lose effectiveness, especially since similar stimulation was one part of an elaborate four-part technique to intentionally remove another type of polymer contraceptive (RISUG®, the contraceptive being developed in India that first inspired us to get into this field and look for a cost-effective approach that could make it through FDA requirements).

What are we going to do now? The Vasalgel science team has already developed a plan. The first thing we did was to STOP all sperm testing to avoid dislodging anything more. Then for the three baboons that are still azoospermic (no live sperm), we will stick with the original plan to reverse/flush out the Vasalgel a few weeks from now, to test that the reversal procedure works well and that sperm flow is quickly restored. Meanwhile, we are adding another group of four baboons. First they'll be screened for fertility (they'll have about three weeks to mate with 3-5 fertile females to show they have what it takes!). Then once they're proven fertile, they'll get Vasalgel, rest up a few weeks, and go back with fertile females. After that, they should not produce offspring.

And an update to their projected timeline:

Quote:It would be a lot simpler if Vasalgel could go straight to clinical trials - lots of men would be eager to help! But there is no way around these safety studies--and it's better to be working out the kinks now.

The good news is that between the rabbit study and this baboon study, there is more and more evidence of safety. The bad news is that with the inevitable delays of science, we're looking at a first clinical trial next year, not this year.

Post: #28

Wow! We'll see this stuff come to fruition within 10 years, it looks like.

Post: #29

(12-13-2011 11:30 AM)Vicious Wrote:  This drug has taken far to long to get into stores.

Yeah, there are a 100 ways of female contraception, from pills to freaking patches on skin, but they still didn't come up with a reliable contraceptive pill for men. How is this even possible? Why do we have to put our future in women's hands every time we change our protection method from condoms to pills? It's a good chance that she will simply forget to take the damn pill or stop taking it on purpose to trick you into proposing or child support. I almost smell a conspiracy.

Post: #30

The day this is readily available, male -female relations will change drastically.

Massive power shift to men.....maybe this is why its taken this long.

Post: #31

(05-08-2014 10:14 PM)kdolo Wrote:  The day this is readily available, male -female relations will change drastically.

Massive power shift to men.....maybe this is why its taken this long.

I'm wondering, would it actually change anything? Most men probably wouldn't use it even if it was readily available, nor see the value in it.

For guys like us here on the forum - sure. But I'm not convinced it would drastically change male-female relations. I suspect nothing noticeable would happen.

Post: #32

"For guys like us here on the forum - sure. But I'm not convinced it would drastically change male-female relations. I suspect nothing noticeable would happen."

It would diminish the use of birth control among women, which fucks with their hormones and makes them desire alpha males less. It would make golddigging via baby momma harder. Might accelerate the spread of STDs - which could be diminished in turn by rapid easy STD testing thats about to arrive on the market. Considering that white and Asian college educated couples very rarely have bastard pregnancies, they may not be as impacted by it.

But for all other men, they will now have a choice as to whether they want to father kids or not. Guys here and among MRAs like to scaremonger that every bastard pregnancy is forced upon a man, but I imagine a lot of them are desired by the father, secretly or not. Having male birth control will give a man conscious control of conception, instead of leaving it up to the whims and wiles of the woman he's rawdogging. Still, many of these men will act irresponsibly and not make a conscious decision, and just get a chick pregnant out of negligence.

Post: #33

(05-08-2014 06:09 PM)Samseau Wrote:  Wow! We'll see this stuff come to fruition within 10 years, it looks like.

Ten years from now, you will be saying the same thing.

I think there is a reason why science is not trying too hard in this area.

Post: #34

(05-09-2014 01:34 AM)cardguy Wrote:  

(05-08-2014 06:09 PM)Samseau Wrote:  Wow! We'll see this stuff come to fruition within 10 years, it looks like.

Ten years from now, you will be saying the same thing.

I think there is a reason why science is not trying too hard in this area.

science is trying hard, its just really really really difficult. much harder than hormonal BC

Post: #35

Bump for minor update:

Quote:The new baboon mating study plan is just about complete, and we have started the process of selecting males for this study. Since the main goal is to show that the baboons do not impregnate a female after they have received Vasalgel™, we need to be sure that all of them are capable of fathering offspring. We have found a small number of males who have fathered offspring previously ("proven breeders") and are hoping to enroll them in the study. If we can do this, it would save almost a month on the study timeline and a lot of expense since we won't have to go through the process of putting males with females first to ensure pre-Vasalgel fertility. We are also investigating methods to visualize the placement of Vasalgel, which is a clear fluid that does not show up with standard imaging techniques. Micro-materials that show up on x-ray or ultrasound are often used for this purpose, and we are investigating whether they would be useful in the baboon study.

No real change to projected timeline:

Quote:Reversals for the first set of baboons should be next month. We're still looking at the baboon study being finished later this year, first small clinical trial starting next year, and a large, multi-site trial starting next year or early 2016.