Vasalgel is inching toward human trials, in part boosted by a $200,000 grant from the Male Contraceptive Initiative (MCI), a private non-profit that focuses on the development of non-hormonal methods.

Heather Vahdat, the executive director of MCI, anticipates that either Vasalgel or another product similar in scope, called Echo-VR, will be the first options supported by the MCI to reach the market some time in 10-plus years.

Vahdat tells Inverse that apart from those two potentials, theres a range of products in the very early stages of development that hold a lot of promise. The goal is to create a future where men have just as many options as women to establish what Vahdat describes as true contraceptive choice.

We are aiming for a contraceptive method mix that benefits everyone, so that partners can consider their future together or individuals can protect themselves, Vahdat explains.

But one concern is that a lack of cash could keep Vasalgel from ever being a real option. Vasalgel is being developed by the Parsemus Foundation a non-profit that takes on products pharmaceutical companies ignore. It collects donations but it usually takes pharmaceutical company-levels of cash to actually get a product to market. The National Institutes of Health is the largest domestic funder of male contraceptive research, while MCI is one of the largest funders globally. Theyve donated just over $2 million to various research programs since 2017, which, while impressive, is still a small amount in the world of pharmaceutical product development.

Back in the 1990s, pharmaceutical research and development for male contraception was an active space. But since then, Long explains, its been virtually abandoned.

The thought is that industry pulled away from male contraceptive development due to concerns that the market was already saturated with female methods, Long says. Moving into the male market, where the risk profile is uncertain, was too risky.

Follow this link:
A guide to the next 20 years of male birth control - Inverse

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