This Torrance Inventor Says His ‘Galactic’ Condom Will Change The World
Source: Daily Breeze, Megan Barnes
Photo: Scott Varley, Contributor
Charlie Powell has an idea for sex that’s out of this world: Trojans are history, the Galactic Cap is the future.
The entrepreneur and Missouri native has followed an eclectic career path to his newest title of condom inventor. He earned an English degree before serving in the Vietnam War, worked on oil rigs in Europe in the 1970s and studied film in London, settling in Torrance 25 years ago to work in video production.
Powell’s Emmy Award-winning company made corporate sales and training videos, including a highly successful DVD for student drivers in 2007 that was shot in the South Bay.
But in recent years, he stepped away from video production for a completely new venture. He wants to revolutionize condoms.
Powell’s product, the Galactic Cap, only covers the tip of the penis, leaving as much skin exposed as possible to maximize sensation while trapping semen in a leak-proof pouch.
The thin device is made of two pieces of polyurethane that are sealed together with heat, resembling a butterfly bandage or a nasal strip. Behind backing that peels off, one side has a skin-safe adhesive and the other has a flattened, leak-proof pocket that expands and collects semen.
“It’s a condom that men want to wear, not have to wear,” Powell said, using a syringe filled with blue liquid to fill one placed on a demonstration device.
As for customer feedback, he said anonymous surveys have come back overwhelmingly positive, though some couples report botching their first try. The condoms come with a set of instructions.
Inspiration
He got the idea for the Galactic Cap three decades ago, when a video editor he worked with became HIV positive.
At the time, the diagnosis was considered a death sentence.
“I thought, you’re going to die from having unprotected sex?” Powell said. “I ought to develop something. I sat on that idea for over 20 years.”
Thanks to antiretroviral drugs, the friend went on to live a healthy life and the virus is now undetectable in his blood. He’s one of Powell’s biggest supporters.
Technically, the Galactic Cap isn’t a condom, but a “glans sheath.”
Powell and product designer Aaron Gray came up with the concept experimenting at home with Ziplock bags in 2012.
They teamed up with medical engineers in San Diego to develop a prototype, which underwent rigorous testing simulating sex.
The condoms are made 100 at a time at a factory in Gardena.
Powell had been selling them online for $20 per prototype, but after he was contacted by the FDA last year, he was forced to cease sales in the United States until he gets approval from federal regulators. He still sells the condoms online to customers in other countries.
Powell said he has a patent pending on the design, which has gone through a few changes. Most notably, the strip was lengthened on one side to create a more secure anchor.
In 2014, Powell crowdfunded $100,000 for research and development and launched a marketing campaign, drawing the attention of media outlets including L.A. Weekly, the New York Daily News, Cosmopolitan, GQ and others.
He entered the Galactic Cap into a contest for a “next generation condom” held by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which awarded grants to 11 finalists.
Powell wasn’t one of them.
Limited protection
He believes that’s because the Galactic Cap doesn’t fully cover the penis, so it can’t protect against STI’s that can be transmitted by skin, such as herpes or genital warts.
For that reason, Powell expects the Galactic Cap to be approved for contraceptive use only.
Even though he cannot claim his product guards against STIs, Powell believes the Galactic Cap will reduce their spread simply by appealing to those who dislike regular condoms so much they don’t use them at all.
“For 400 years, there’s been no improvement fundamentally in a condom. It gets thinner and different material, that’s it,” Powell said. “It’s still something people don’t like.”
Last month, Powell launched a new crowdfunding effort on StartEngine that raised nearly $50,000 as of Friday. This time, he wants to come up with $500,000 to start clinical trials for CE mark certification in Europe.
Then, he’ll use the revenue from selling the condom in Europe to begin the more costly and lengthy process of seeking FDA approval.
Like TOMS shoes, for every Galactic Cap he sells, Powell plans to donate one to a developing nation. He has a patent pending.
“If I get it, I will own Trojan and Durex,” he said. “They will have to come to me because I have the better mousetrap. People want my condom, they don’t want something tired and 40 years old.”
Powell acknowledges a long road lies ahead, but he remains optimistic.
“What I see in the next five years is this condom in every country in the world,” he said. “We’re going to do with the condom what Apple did with the computer.”