MALE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL ONE STEP CLOSER

The researchers behind the drug hope it will start human clinical trials later this year

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A contraceptive pill for men may be just around the corner. Researchers at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis have created an oral, non-hormone-based pill that's 99 per cent effective in preventing pregnancies in mice.

“So far, the compound ... shows really promising results without any observable side effects in mice," said Md Abdullah al Noman, the graduate student who presented the research at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego.

The compound, named YCT529, works by shutting off a protein called retinoic acid receptor alpha (RAR-a), which binds to vitamin A and plays an important role in cell growth, including sperm formation.