I am a 46-year-old male with SPMS who is eligible for the MD1003 study. My main concern and my partner is on the male reproductive system after reading this study on rats, Dietary intake of high-dose biotin inhibits spermatogenesis in young rats:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 0-bib-0041
I note this is a study on young rats, not male adults with a developed reproductive system but the conclusion is worth noting:
The company’s medical monitor reinforced that contraception must be used while in the study. Aside from that, she mentioned that the possibility of this cannot be ruled out, but it is unlikely to affect sperm production. But if it's so safe, why do I need to use contraception? Also, this means I cannot have a child while on the drug.In conclusion, this is the first study to show that dietary high-dose biotin intake affected reproduction in males and inhibited the maturation of spermatogenic cells. We selected a high-dose of biotin because the purpose of this study was to characterize a new function of biotin in reproduction in males. However, the results of the present study were obtained from a limited number of rats. Therefore, further studies are needed using a larger number of animals and other species. A high dietary dose of biotin may lead to some adverse effects in humans; however, the dose used in the present study was too large to determine the No observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) and the lowest observed adverse effect level (LOAEL), and setting UL for biotin may be important for preventing such dietary biotin-induced adverse effects. Therefore, more definitive experiments are required before setting UL for biotin.
I wonder if any people in France had issues with fertility after starting this form of high-dose biotin since I am told over 5000 patients are on it there.
I am currently weighing the pros and cons very carefully and in the meantime, taking high dose Alpha Lipoic Acid (1200 mg a day) along with 10,000 IUs of vitamin D a day.
Apart from contraception and safety, my issue is I've been through many disappointing studies and even though the results look promising, the sample size is too small and I don't know if the risks are worth it, especially since I might be taking a placebo (50% chance).
My MS is stable, it has progressed very slowly, cannot walk far without taking breaks but I am otherwise fine. My biggest issue is spasticity in legs and lower back pain which I just found out that botox injections might help.
Any advice here is welcome, thank you!