If things work out as scheduled, they have enough funding, and the few final phases of the trial turn out to be successful, it's highly possible that men can forget about wearing condoms as a new type of birth control will be available to them by 2017.
A nonprofit organization called Parsemus Foundation has been working on creating medical technologies and products that can be affordable when mass-produced. One of their interesting projects in the pipeline is Vasalgel, which will be a male birth control polymer hydrogel that creates a block on the vas deferens or ductus referens where sperms pass through prior to ejaculation. It is non-hormonal, so men can stop worrying about more physiological effects for now. To place the hydrogel into the vans deferens, the male undergoes a non-invasive procedure that includes the doctor injecting the hydrogel.
In a press release, the organization mentioned that an experiment with the baboons is going very well. A few male baboons were provided with the polymer hydrogel 6 months ago and allowed to have unrestricted and unlimited sex with at least 10 females. So far, none of the females had become pregnant since then. However, Vasalgel will stay in the male monkeys for a few more weeks. After, the polymer hydrogel will be removed in a reversal attempt, and male baboons will be checked to see if they reproduce sperm again. More cyclical tests are expected within the next weeks.
The organization hopes to begin the human trial as early as 2015. They will handle a small group first before moving onto a larger-scale clinical trial by around 2015 to 2016. If all the results are satisfactory and they receive enough funding to continue with the project--they already received one from David and Lucile Packard Foundation--Vasalgel may be available in the market by 2017.
Although they haven't figured the exact retail price, they anticipate Vasalgel to cost less than a flat-screen TV or a doctor's appointment for its use. They are also willing to propose to have it covered by insurance.
