Male Birth Control Pill Offers 6-8 Hour Protection, Takes Effect in 30 Minutes

Researchers have received a multimillion-dollar grant to develop a male birth control pill that takes effect within 30 minutes and provides a six-to-eight-hour window of pregnancy protection before fertility returns to normal. The drug, developed by pharmacologists at Weill Cornell Medicine, temporarily disables an enzyme called soluble adenylyl cyclase (sAC) that sperm need to swim and mature after ejaculation. Unlike other male contraceptives that target sperm production and take weeks to work, this pill acts on existing sperm and is fully reversible. The four-year grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will fund human safety testing, with trials in men expected within two years. Researchers note no side effects in animal studies, though experts caution about potential effects on other tissues and emphasize the need for rigorous testing.