全球首个男性避孕药或将推出

Roughly half of all pregnancies worldwide aren’t planned. We can attribute this, at least partially, to the fact that half the species (ahem, women) bears most of the birth control burden. If men had access to a long-lasting contraception, researchers have projected, the rate of unplanned pregnancies would tumble.

全球有近半数的怀孕都是意外怀孕，我们可以认为造成这种情况的原因，或者至少部分原因是一半的人类（咳咳，女性）需要承担大部分的避孕责任。研究人员预计，如果能让男人长效避孕，意外怀孕的概率会骤降。

Now, Indian scientists claim they are getting closer to giving men such an option. Officials at the Indian Council of Medical Research say they’ve successfully completed clinical testing of the world’s first injectable male contraceptive, the Hindustan Times reported.

现在印度科学家声称已经快要实现给男人选择权的目标了。据《印度斯坦时报》报道，印度医学研究委员会的工作人员说他们已成功完成了世界首个可注射的男性避孕药的临床测试。

“The product is ready, with only regulatory approvals pending with [India’s drug regulator],” Radhey Shyam Sharma, a New Delhi reproductive biologist who leads the research, told the newspaper. “The product can safely be called the world’s first male contraceptive.”

此项研究负责人新德里生殖生物学家Radhey Shyam Sharma对该报纸说：“一切就绪，就等‘印度药品监管机构’的监管批准了。我们大可称它为全球首个男性避孕药。”

If that were true, it would mean India has found one of the holy grails of reproductive medicine — overcoming the biological and regulatory challenges that have thwarted past attempts to bring a new male birth control to market. (For more on those, and other promising male birth control options, see here.)

如果这都是真的，那就意味着印度已经发现了生殖医学一直在寻找的东西，那就是克服生物和监管方面的困难，就因为这些困难，所以一直不能将新的男性节育方法推向市场。（想要了解更多信息和其他可能的男性避孕方法，请看这里。）

The product is a nonsurgical vasectomy called RISUG, which stands for “reversible inhibition of sperm under guidance,” and it’s effectively an injection behind men’s penises. If that sounds like something no man would ever agree to, let me explain.

这个被称为RISUG的产品是非手术输精管结扎术，RISUG代表的是“在引导下对精子进行可逆抑制”，实际上是在男人阴茎后注射。如果这听起来男人不会接受的话，那我解释一下。

With RISUG, doctors inject a polymer gel into the vas deferens, the tube that transports mature sperm to the urethra during ejaculation, under local anesthesia. The procedure is intended to block sperm, and therefore, the chances that a man impregnates a woman, with effects that can last for 13 years, Sharma told the Hindustan Times.

医生使用RISUG就是局部麻醉后将聚合物凝胶注射进输精管，也就是射精时将成熟的精子运送到尿道的部位。Sharma对《印度斯坦时报》说，这样做的目的是要阻挡精子，因此男人就不可能让女人怀孕了，有效期长达13年。

In some ways, it’s similar to a vasectomy, a surgery that involves cutting or tying the vas deferens to stop sperm from entering the urethra and getting passed along to a female partner. But reversing a vasectomy requires more surgery, and the RISUG treatment can reportedly be reversed simply with another shot that breaks down the gel. It could cost as little as $10 in developing countries.

在某些方面这有点类似输精管结扎术，那是一种手术，通过切断或扎住输精管以阻止精子进入尿道从而进入女性性-伴侣的体内。但想要达到逆向作用还需要进行手术，而据报道RISUG疗法的逆向方法很简单，只需要再注射能溶解凝胶的物质就可以。发展中国家的注射费用仅为10美元。