Male Contraceptive Pill

A study by researchers from Osaka University, Japan has concluded that drugs used during organ transplants could hold the key for developing contraceptive pills for males. The drugs, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, used before organ transplant work by suppressing the immune system of the body by not allowing it to produce an enzyme called calcineurin. Calcineurin encourages T-cells to attack a new organ.

Researchers while studying mice identified a version of calcineurin which contains a protein called PPP3CC found only in sperm. Researchers discovered that male mice who were unable to or had less amounts of PPP3CC could not make female mice pregnant.

This led to researchers concluding that the absence of sperm calcineurin may be the key for developing male contraceptives.