Thursday, June 23, 2005
Researchers at the University of Kansas are trying to even the responsibility about birth control by giving men a stab at taking a daily pill. Researchers received an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to research reversable male contraceptives.
Today only women can take a pill to prevent pregnancy, but KU researchers found a compound, which they call gamendazole, that they hope to make into a pill for men. It blocked fertility in 75 percent of rats by week three, said Gunda Georg, distinguished professor of medicinal chemistry.
The research done so far has been a joint venture between the Lawrence campus and the University of Kansas Medical Center, Georg, the lead researcher, said.
“I’m interested in drug discovery,” Georg said. “But it works well because I develop the drugs and Dr. Tash administers them.”
Joseph Tash, associate professor of molecular integrated physiology, oversees the Med Center side of the project, which conduct the animal testing.
The group began working on a reversible male contraception compound, which would later be turned into a pill, five years ago, Georg said. The Institute posted research areas it was interested in seeing work, and Georg was interested.
During the next five years Georg and the rest of the team worked to find which compounds induced sterility.
To test compounds and combinations of them the team grows E. coli, which is bacteria, and tests the compound against it. The goal is to have the compound cause the E. coli to create enzymes that will stop fertility.
University researchers have thousands of compounds to sift through and combine. Thanks to the new grant, a new set of more than 100,000 compounds is set to arrive at the University.
The trick, Georg said, was to find compounds with no toxicity or serious side effects.
“Because you're dealing with young people,” Georg said. “It becomes demanding because you have to have a very safe product.”
Currently the researchers are testing the compounds on rats. With further development and refinement, the compound would be tested on rabbits, then monkeys and finally people. Researchers currently cannot estimate a time frame of when the drug would be available to the public, Georg said. The Food and Drug Administration would get involved before any human testing would be allowed, Georg said.
The idea of male contraception is a great idea, Justin La Mort, Cherryville senior, said.
He said that pregnancy was one of the worst things he could think of, and he would take the pill just to be responsible and not have that happen.
— — Edited by Erin M. Droste
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