In Other Journals

Hormonal male contraceptive regimens are not only effective but also reversible, according to an extensive data re-analysis. Australia-based researcher Liu and colleagues examined data from 1549 healthy men, aged 18 to 51 years, who had taken part in a total of 30 studies of male contraception with various androgen or androgen-progestagen regimens conducted between 1990 and 2005. Routes of administration varied and included oral, intramuscular, transdermal and subcutaneous routes. Overall, the average time to recovery to a fertile threshold of 20 million sperm per mL of semen was 3.4 months; with 90% recovery within 1 year and 100% within 2 years. Liu and colleagues say their findings increase the promise of new contraceptive drugs, allowing men to share more fairly “the satisfaction and burden” of family planning.