Scotland university set to study new contraceptive method after bagging US$4.4m grant

A team of Scottish researchers have received a US$4.4m grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to help discover a new contraceptive that would slow down sperm in the female reproductive system.

The team from the University of Dundee have discovered chemical combinations that stall sperm so that they will never be able to swim far enough to fertilise an egg.

The researchers have screened “drug libraries” to detect combinations that can disable sperm without being toxic and have so far spotted two potential candidates.

“These compounds stop the sperm swimming fast,” explained Professor Chris Barratt of the School of Medicine.

“The sperm will move, it will still twitch, but it will not make any headway. It is a car that is moving in the slow lane. It will never get anywhere, it is almost too slow to see — but it is not dead so [the compound] is not toxic to the cell.”

But although the compounds would affect the sperm, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant is intended to help turn the chemicals into treatments that could be given to women in the form of a pill, patch or gel.

“My understanding is the Gates foundation wants this contraceptive approach to be taken by the female not the male,” Barratt told the Times.

“Obviously if we find something interesting that affects the sperm you can see if that can be taken by the male but our focus is on the female tract.”

He added: “Our ultimate aim is to produce a non-hormonal contraceptive for women, improving contraceptive choice, particularly for those in low and middle income countries.

“If we find products that affect sperm cells, it may be they could be developed for the man.”

Data suggest that between 2015-19, there were 121 million unintended pregnancies, with women living in the world’s poorest regions nearly three times as likely to fall pregnant unintentionally, in comparison to those in the wealthiest regions.

However, the need to develop further forms of contraception have previously been hampered by the relatively poor understanding of human sperm biology and the absence of an efficient system to screen the effects of potential drug compounds on sperm activity.

Jason Swedlow, Professor of Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology, said: “We really know very little about how sperm cells work.

“It is technically very challenging to develop potential new drugs which affect sperm. To do this we have had to develop new ways to measure the effects of compounds on sperm.”

The University of Dundee aims to study this matter by bringing together experts in reproductive medicine, drug discovery, mechanism of action and cell biology.

Ian Gilbert, head of the drug discovery unit, said: “A project of this complexity can’t be undertaken without the extensive, collaborative capability that exists here at Dundee.

“We all contribute our unique skillsets, and all of the key decisions are decided between us. This is hugely complex work, and to have such a broad range of input is hugely advantageous.”