Men have largely missed out on the dramatic advances in contraceptive technology deriving from refinements in steroid chemistry over the last 50 years. The two existing male methods, condoms and vasectomy, have remained essentially unchanged (notwithstanding the advance of the no-scalpel vasectomy) but there are significant recent advances and clinical trials in a wide range of male-based methods, both hormonal and targeting sperm production, maturation and function, and sperm transport in the vas deferens.
Hormonal approaches have a long history dating back half a century, with early studies showing that it was possible to achieve good suppression of spermatogenesis and, importantly, full recovery thereafter. The field took a very major leap forward with the demonstration in landmark WHO studies that administration of supraphysiological doses of testosterone resulted in azoospermia in most men and very low sperm concentrations in the great majority of others, and that this resulted in effective contraception.