WASHINGTON (TIP): A new male contraceptive injection may provide rapid, durable and potentially reversible birth control for about a year without the need for condoms, a new study has claimed, ahead of its first human clinical trial this year.

Men currently have few options for re productive control, including condoms and vasectomy. The new study in rabbits has con firmed that Vasalgel has the potential to fil the gap. It consists of styrene-alt-maleic acid (SMA) dissolved in dimethyl sulfoxide and could be the first long-acting, non-hormonal male contraceptive to reach market.

“Vasalgel produces a very rapid contra ceptive effect which lasted throughou the study due to its unique hydrogel proper ties,” said Dr Donald Waller, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Univer sity of Illinois . After the gel was injected into the vas de ferens of 12 rabbits, semen analysis showed that 11 rabbits were azoospermic in all sam ples, having no quantifiable sperm in their semen at all.