WHO expands contraceptive options guidelines to include emergency pills and male methods

The World Health Organization has expanded its contraceptive guidelines to recommend extended-use oral pills, longer-lasting implants, and emergency mifepristone, while releasing its first Target Product Profile for male contraceptives. Although surveys show that over half of European men would adopt novel male contraceptives, development remains stalled by a lack of pharmaceutical funding and strict regulatory tolerance for side effects, leaving men with few options beyond condoms and vasectomies.

New WHO contraceptive guidelines

• ▪The World Health Organization recommended against adding quinestrol-containing contraceptive pills to national programmes and called for more research on ormeloxifene due to limited safety evidence.
• ▪The World Health Organization published new guidelines on September 23, 2026, recommending that combined oral contraceptive pills can be taken continuously for up to one year or for extended periods of up to six months.
• ▪The World Health Organization's September 23, 2026 guidelines recommend contraceptive implants be used for up to five years to reduce replacement procedures and clinic costs.
• ▪The World Health Organization recommended mifepristone at doses of 10 to 50 mg as an additional emergency contraception option to be taken within five days of unprotected sex.

WHO guidelines for male contraceptives

• ▪The World Health Organization's guide for male contraceptives outlined three development targets: inhibiting sperm production, interfering with sperm mobility, and blocking sperm passage through the ducts.
• ▪The World Health Organization released its first Target Product Profile for male contraceptives on September 23, 2026, to guide researchers and developers on safety, effectiveness, and affordability standards.

Male contraceptive clinical trials

• ▪A clinical trial conducted between 2018 and 2024 evaluated NES/T, a daily hormonal gel applied to the shoulders that decreases sperm count while maintaining testosterone levels, involving 462 couples.
• ▪Contraline is developing a nonhormonal implant called ADAM that is inserted into the vas deferens, which has demonstrated safety and efficacy for up to 24 months in clinical testing.
• ▪YourChoice Therapeutics is conducting an 88-person safety trial for a nonhormonal daily male contraceptive pill.

Public interest in male contraceptives

• ▪A global study published in the journal Contraception found that over 75% of surveyed couples would use a new male contraceptive, and over 85% of women would trust their partners to use it.
• ▪A September 22, 2026 survey of 14,000 European men found more than half would use a novel male contraceptive within 12 months of approval; a non-hormonal pill taken 30 minutes before sex was the single most preferred.

Funding and development challenges

• ▪Heather Vahdat stated that the male contraceptive field has been funded almost exclusively by the philanthropic and public sectors for 30 years, leaving no established pathway for pharmaceutical company involvement.
• ▪Large pharmaceutical companies have avoided developing male contraceptives due to liability risks associated with suspending reproductive functions in healthy individuals and the high market usage of existing female contraceptives.

Side effects of female contraceptives

• ▪Approximately 20% of women stop using birth control or change their contraceptive methods within the first six months, frequently due to mood-related side effects such as depression.
• ▪More than 6% of users of the Mirena intrauterine device experience depression as a side effect, which is double the rate of depression reported by men in a 2008-2012 male contraceptive injection trial.

Debatable claims

• ▪Pharmaceutical companies bear more responsibility for male contraceptive development than philanthropic organizations
• ▪Women can reliably trust male partners to manage daily or long-term contraception
• ▪The stricter safety standards applied to male contraceptives compared to female birth control are justified
• ▪Developers should prioritize non-hormonal male contraceptives over hormonal methods