Interest in research re all forms of contraception, population and environment

Research ongoing with Dr Nnaemeka Amobi into a novel male systemic method of contraception.

 The "dry orgasm" pill.

This is a novel non-hormonal approach




based on the same highly unusual side effect of two drugs with quite different




main actions – and first reported many decades ago. As far back as 1961, American




psychiatrists were reporting the side effect, succinctly put in the title of a




1968 case report about this particular phenothiazine:  "Thioridazine-induced inhibition of




masturbatory ejaculation in an adolescent". The inhibition was of the semen being delivered, NOT of the rhythmic contractions and sensations of normal male orgasm.

published [Homonnai et al Contraception 1984;29:479-91] a pilot study in 13 men




of the identical strange effect of an alpha-adrenergic blocker, under the title




"Phenoxybenzamine – an effective male contraceptive pill". This title




was not perhaps an overstatement, since at no time did any of the volunteers




produce any semen at all at ejaculation, while on treatment with 10-30 mg of




the drug, yet with apparently complete restoration of semen volume and quality




on discontinuation. There was no evidence of retrograde ejaculation nor of




effects on testosterone, FSH, LH or prolactin. Of greatest interest is that the men remained very happy with their sex lives:  none of the men reported any adverse effects on libido, erection, sexual




performance or on their sensations of orgasm and ejaculation - despite no fluid




emission.   

Where has this interesting possibility got to, in the 24 years since that pilot




study? The original drugs had too many reported side effects, indeed




thioridazine is no longer in the British National Formulary and




phenoxybenzamine has a very restricted use as a hypotensive in the treatment




phaeochromocytoma. But the pharmacologists Amobi and Smith at King's College




Hospital have continued working systematically on our excised vasectomy specimens from  the Margaret Pyke (University College London) and Elliot-Smith (Oxford)




clinics, and have identified the mechanism of action (on the vas and also,




necessarily to result in dry ejaculations', downstream' from the




prostate).  The original drugs, some new




ones they have identified and also tailored ones that have been synthesised




with the same 'chemical signature', all if given at the right (low) dosage




contrive to paralyse the longitudinal muscles of the Wolffian duct system while




still permitting the circular muscles to contract. This leads to loss of the




usual co-ordinated ejaculatory "Mexican wave", instead there is a




sphincter action, reversibly preventing emission of both sperm and seminal




fluid. 

At the time of writing we are seeking funding to take the most promising candidate




drugs forward through all the required preliminary Phases of clinical testing




for efficacy and safety. This will certainly cost millions of dollars and take




at least 10 more years – 60 years since those first reports.