The market for male birth control is growing. One startup is touting a nonhormonal, long-lasting option — and thinks the tech could be ready for use in two years.
NEXT Life Sciences is taking a new approach with its male contraceptive called Plan A. The product uses Vasalgel, a hydrogel that blocks the flow of sperm through the vas deferens to prevent pregnancy.
This month, the startup landed fresh funding to power Plan A’s first clinical trials, raising $2.5 million in seed funding led by Ryan Breslow’s venture fund The Family, Business Insider has learned exclusively. Breslow, the founder of fintech startup Bolt, will now serve as a strategic advisor to NEXT.
NEXT’s oversubscribed seed round included funding from Transform VC, StartupHealth, Pay It Forward Venture Capital, Particular Ventures, Keno Peer, Unpopular Ventures, and Joy Fund. The startup had raised $1.5 million in pre-seed funding in June.
The reversal of Roe v. Wade in 2022 has prompted many people to reevaluate their birth control choices, NEXT CEO L.R. Fox told Business Insider.
There are only two forms of contraception for male anatomy: condoms, which are cheap but not foolproof at preventing pregnancy, or vasectomies, which require surgery and can be expensive.
Fox pointed to the increasing rate of vasectomies among younger men and men without children as more evidence that they want to participate in the decision-making process around birth control.
“Men are out there saying, I’m willing to forego the ability to potentially ever have a child, so I can help my partner not have an unplanned child, and prevent that social or medical cost for my partner,” he said.
NEXT Life Sciences isn’t the only company chasing after new forms of male contraception. Contraline released promising clinical results this month for its own male contraceptive, which uses similar hydrogel technology to NEXT’s Vasalgel. Scientists are also working on a hormonal male birth control pill and a topical hormonal gel.
NEXT’s Vasalgel technology — the Parsemus Foundation developed Vasalgel in the early 2010s, and NEXT bought the exclusive license in 2022 to test and commercialize it — has been studied in rabbits and monkeys but hasn’t yet gone through human trials.
The startup plans to begin clinical trials for Plan A in the coming months, with the hopes of submitting its tech for approval as a medical device by the Food and Drug Administration in the second half of the year.
That should set the company up for FDA clearance in 2025, so NEXT can start selling Plan A to medical clinics by 2026, according to the startup.
NEXT wants to sell Plan A not just in high-income countries like the US, but around the world, including areas of Africa with high rates of poverty, where Fox says he frequently hears from couples desperate for low-cost birth control options.
“When we say, what does it take to get true gender equality, what does it take to enable people to break out of cycles of poverty and set intentions for their lives — that requires people to be able to family plan,” he said.
See the 16-slide pitch deck NEXT Life Sciences used to raise $2.5 million.
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