Contraception without hormones

‘The pill’ was once considered revolutionary and became the most common form of contraception. Today, however, many people see hormone-based contraception critical. A research team from LMU, Goethe University Frankfurt, and University Hospital Bonn has launched the project PREVENT for the development of non-hormonal contraceptives. The researchers aim to open avenues to novel active agents for birth control for women and men. PREVENT has been awarded three million euros in funding until 2029 by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.

In the 1970s, the birth control pill was the most popular form of contraception in Western countries. In Germany, for example, one in every three women was ‘on the pill’. The method is safe and reliable, usually covered by health insurance, and was seen as an instrument of female self-determination in the 1960s and ’70s in particular.

Over time, however, various side effects of hormonal contraceptives became evident. Depending on the used contraceptive agent, these can range from nausea, weight gain, and breast tenderness to high blood pressure, liver dysfunction, and blood clots. Drugs like certain antibiotics and components of St. John’s wort reduce the effectiveness of the pill, and it should not be taken under various medical conditions.

More people are rejecting the pill

Although the side effects are comparatively rare, they contribute to decreasing acceptance of the pill. According to surveys by the Federal Centre for Health Education, fewer woman and couples have been using the pill for contraception since 2023; among younger adults in particular, the condom has replaced the pill as the number-one method of contraception.

A research team led by Professor Daniel Merk from LMU, Dr. Claudia Tredup and Professor Stefan Knapp from the Institute of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Goethe University Frankfurt, and Professor Hubert Schorle from University Hospital Bonn is now working on the development of contraceptives that do not rely on hormonal mechanisms and have less side effects. They launched the project PREVENT (Precision Reproductive and Contraceptive Target Discovery Network) and obtained a three-year grant from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.

Active agents for new contraceptive strategies

Because hormonal contraceptive methods alter hormone communication between brain and ovaries and interfere with endocrine feedback loops, they are not suitable for, nor wanted by, all women. The PREVENT consortium is therefore looking for alternative, non-hormonal contraceptive methods for women and men. Its research approach is focused on small molecules that specifically block proteins found exclusively in sperm or egg cells. For example, the inhibition of certain proteins could reduce the motility of sperm, so that they no longer reach the egg cell. As contraceptives are administered to healthy people, they must be reliable, reversible, safe, and highly tolerable.

The search for active agents that fulfill such complex requirements is an extremely demanding effort. To meet this challenge, the PREVENT team will set up a broad and sustainable drug development platform to establish technologies and tools to validate non-hormonal contraceptive concepts. Highly selective and effective agents, so-called chemical probes, will enable the targeted testing of new contraceptive strategies and create a robust foundation for preclinical and then clinical studies.

PREVENT will specifically evaluate genes that are associated with infertility and use the corresponding proteins as target structures for safe, non-hormonal contraceptive strategies. PREVENT is not just a classic pharmaceutical research project, but also addresses key societal goals of reproductive self-determination and global health policy.