There is no currently prescribed birth control for men. Why?

Unsuccessful Attempts

To date, all attempts to produce and market a viable prescription birth control for men have met with failure. Part of the reason is the difficulty in producing a biology-based method for men that would be as effective as the ones already developed for women.

Market Forces

Another part of the problem is that the cost of developing and bringing new drugs to the market place is extremely high. The current estimated cost of developing a new drug can reach two million dollars. The average time it takes for a drug company to develop that new drug is twelve years from the initial research phase to the moment it is placed on the druggist’s shelf. For this reason, the pharmaceutical industry must envision a significant profit to be made from a specific drug. This relationship is often referred to as the risk/reward ratio or the cost to benefit ratio. For a number of reasons, the anticipated benefits in producing a male prescription birth control have not, as yet, sufficiently outweighed the anticipated initial costs to make the entire effort worthwhile.

Male Resistance

The final major factor in preventing drug companies from working to develop prescription birth control for men is the result of their initial attempts to get men to actually use it. Drug companies found men to be resistant to using prescription birth control. These initial failures convinced the drug industry that to convince men to take a daily birth control pill would require a major cultural and educational effort. The good news is that researchers continue to look for ways to produce a male birth control pill that is acceptable to the male population.

Society and Biology

For the past forty years, women have assumed the major responsibility for birth control. They have even begun to routinely purchase the prophylactics that men once bought. With the spectrum of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) to worry about, women have also accepted the need to protect themselves by requiring their sexual partners to use prophylactics. In recent years, women discovered that the only way to ensure that their partners would use protection was to provide it for them. No longer hidden behind the druggist’s counter or only available in men’s public bathrooms, women can now buy prophylactics openly. The laws of biology also have a great deal to do with this issue because women bear the burden of pregnancy and men do not. As the social stigma against illegitimacy has decreased, men feel less and less burdened by the responsibilities of unwanted fatherhood. For many men the question is: why take a daily pill that is expensive, requires periodic doctor’s visits, and possible side effects when someone else is already taking care of the problem for you?