This Company Is Creating A New Kind Of Birth Control For Men

Source: Fast Company, Shalene Gupta
Photo: Krišjānis Kazaks/Unsplash, Getty Images

Contraline says it successfully implanted a contraceptive in four men. Now it has an eye toward FDA approval.

As a student applying to college, Kevin Eisenfrats, cofounder and CEO of Contraline, wrote his application essay on why we need male contraception. Today, the Virginia-based company is announcing that it successfully implanted its contraceptive, ADAM, in four men during a proof-of-concept trial at Epworth Freemasons Hospital in Melbourne, Australia.

ADAM is a nonhormonal hydrogel that is injected in the vas deferens, a duct in the male reproductive system. The gel blocks sperm from traveling through it, and once they’re blocked, they naturally degrade and get absorbed. At the end of the gel’s lifespan, it liquifies, allowing sperm to keep flowing through the vas deferens.

According to Eisenfrats, side effects have so far been minimal: mild pain and a little bit of swelling, comparable to the side effects of a vasectomy. “There are none of the side effects that come with hormonal birth control for women,” he said. “No weight gain, no bleeding, no increased risk of cancer, no effect on sensation or pleasure.”

The next step would be to do a large clinical trial in the United States for approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), potentially in late 2023, with an eye toward getting approval hopefully in 2025 or 2026. If the Contraline is able to go to market, it plans to roll out different types of birth control that can last for different periods of time, such as one year or three years. The hope is to work with insurance companies so that ADAM is affordable and accessible, and men can have finally more options beyond a vasectomy.

So far, Contraline has raised $17.9 million in venture capital funding, and it has a listserv of 3,000 men who are interested in joining the clinical trial. “There’s a huge demand for this,” Eisenfrats said. “When I tell people I’m working on this, about 99% of the reactions I get are ‘it’s about time.’”

https://www.fastcompany.com/90808150/male-birth-control-trial-implant-gel