Reversible injectible contraceptive for men ready for the market

An affordable and reversible contraceptive for men developed by 78-year-old Sujoy Kumar Guha, professor emeritus at IIT-Kharagpur, is awaiting the approval of the Drug Controller General of India to hit the market.

Called RISUG, which is short for Reversible Inhibition of Sperm Under Guidance, the contraceptive is a non-toxic polymer gel that is injected into the vas deferens — tubes that carry the sperm from the testes to the penis.

The gel forms a coating on the inside of the duct, chemically incapacitating the sperm.

Talking about Guha, who took three decades to develop the drug, NIPERdirectorprofessorRaghuram Rao Akkinepally said, “The work suffered many ups and downs but the scientist kept going till phase-3 clinical trials on healthy human volunteers proved successful. Once it gets the DCGI’s nod, commercial production will start.”

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) is helping Guha make the contraceptive commercially viable.

Akkinepally said the gel was safe, effective and reversible and a single injection was effective for at least 10 years.

The injection is given as an outpatient procedure and no hospital stay is needed. Men who take the shot can resume normal sexual activity within a few days. The effect can be reversed with a second injection of dimethyl sulfoxide that breaks down the gel.

“There are no side effects and a man will have to get the injection just three to five times in his lifetime... The injection is extremely cost effective,” said Akkinepally.

CHANDIGARH: