THE QUEST FOR BETTER BIRTH CONTROL
Amphora isn’t the only game in town when it comes to advancements in contraception
CAYA DIAPHRAGM
PATH, a global health nonprofit, modernized the diaphragm, which, once popular in the 1940s, had long fallen out of favor among women. The Seattle-based organization’s diaphragm is latex-free, easier to insert and remove, and designed to fit about 80 percent of women. It’s been on the market since 2015, the year after getting FDA approval.
SAYANA PRESS
Injectable contraceptives are the most popular form of birth control in some African countries, but using them requires regular access to doctors, a challenge in some regions. This one-piece injectable sold by Merck—which was made available in the U.K. and some E.U. and African countries in 2015—is already preloaded, enabling women to administer it themselves.
ECHO-V GEL
With a male birth control pill still a distant dream, Contraline’s gel might one day become the closest thing to it. The Charlottesville, Virginia-based startup is working on a nonsurgical, reversible alternative to the vasectomy, of which there are some 500,000 performed every year. Guided by ultrasound, a doctor can inject its gel into the vas deferens, where it solidifies enough to keep sperm from getting out during ejaculation. The early-stage company, which has raised $2.5 million from investors including Founders Fund, is currently doing animal studies— hoping to have a product on the market by 2021.