By Brooks Welch

According to Fortune, the first male birth control pill, which has shown significant results in lab trials, could begin human testing before the end of the year.

This compound has no apparent side effects and “greatly reduced mice sperm counts and ended up being 99 percent effective at preventing pregnancy (on a par with the pill’s effectiveness in women),” The Daily Beast reported.

In new findings presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society on Wednesday, researchers at The University of Minnesota created a brand new drug, called YCT529, that targets not the male hormone testosterone, but a protein called retinoic acid receptor alpha (via The Daily Beast).

This new compound is a promising addition to pre-existing male contraceptives, condoms and vasectomies.

Md Abdullah Al Noman, a UM graduate student involved in the research project, recently spoke with The Daily Beast about these findings.

“Birth control is a critical health-care issue,” Al Noman said. “Because about more than half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended pregnancies. And that can lead to very poor outcomes, whether in terms of the child’s health or maternal health and also financial and career advancement of women. We need to have more investment in the research and development of the male birth control pill.”

According to Indy 100, there is controversy about whether men will take the pill.

This is a great step, but the likely hood of anyone trusting men to actually take these is pretty much zero

— Ben R (@Chairmanbenr) March 23, 2022

“People cited a general lack of trust as the main reason an everyday male birth control pill may not work,” writes the publication.