A trailblazer within the nascent male contraceptive market picked up practically $100 million in funding this week.
Contraline closed a $92.5 million Sequence B financing spherical on Tuesday, bringing its fundraising complete to $127 million. The spherical was led by BVF Companions and RA Capital Administration, with participation from GV (Google Ventures), Lumira Ventures and Invus.
The Virginia-based firm was based in 2015. It spent the primary decade of its existence creating ADAM, a contraceptive gel implanted into the vas deferens throughout an in-office process — and final yr, Contraline launched one other male contraception product into its pipeline. The second candidate is a once-daily topical gel known as NES/T.
This implies Contraline is now a portfolio firm reasonably than a single-product enterprise, famous CEO Kevin Eisenfrats.
“With feminine contraception, you’ve got completely different merchandise obtainable to girls. We need to do the identical factor for males. We need to have one thing that’s simple to make use of every day, which is our NES/T product, after which one thing that makes use of the implantable ‘set-and-forget’ technique — type of like an IUD, however for males, which is our ADAM product,” he defined.
Whereas ADAM is predicted to enter a Part 2 trial subsequent yr, Eisenfratz mentioned that almost all of Contraline’s new funding will help NES/T’s Part 3 program.
NES/T is nearer to market as a result of it already has intensive scientific information, together with a big Part 2b trial through which 462 {couples} participated, he said. The corporate expects to start the Part 3 research subsequent yr.
Eisenfratz argued there’s a enormous business alternative for each merchandise. For many years, males have had solely two contraceptive choices — condoms and vasectomy — leaving the market just about untapped. Contraline has gathered a ready checklist of greater than 22,000 males serious about new contraceptive choices regardless of doing no promoting, which he cited as proof of great pent-up demand.
One investor backing Contraline — Laura Stoppel, associate at RA Capital Administration — echoed the truth that male contraception has traditionally been missed.
“Contraline helps redefine what reproductive alternative can seem like by giving males a extra lively function in household planning and increasing choices for {couples} who will not be nicely served by current contraceptives. We’re excited to be part of this new chapter in reproductive well being,” she mentioned in an announcement.
Eisenfratz thinks buyers are drawn to Contraline not solely by the market alternative, but additionally by the energy of the corporate’s scientific information.
NES/T’s 2b trial demonstrated encouraging outcomes by way of efficacy, tolerability and reversibility, he mentioned. And the corporate launched information final yr exhibiting that ADAM remained secure and efficient two years after implantation.
Eisenfratz mentioned Contraline has not but set agency timelines for FDA submissions for both product.
“Now that we’re nicely financed, we’re going to be working as shortly as doable to get these merchandise in the marketplace,” he remarked.
Picture: Hector Roqueta Rivero, Getty Pictures
