Intimate Bridge 2 Conception developing an OTC take-home insemination device

PITTSBURGH — A private entrepreneur is close to introducing a take-home intracervical insemination fertilization kit to retail, according to a story published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Friday. The product will be submitted for Food and Drug Administration approval in the first half of 2011. If approved, Steve Bollinger first plans to introduce the product into doctor’s offices before launching through retail pharmacy.

Bollinger, CEO of Intimate Bridge 2 Conception, hopes to introduce Focus Touch at an $80 price point by the end of the year, following FDA approval. Bollinger already has raised $500,000 in investments from the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and local incubator Innovation Works, the Post-Gazette reported, and expects to close on a second round of funding worth $1.5 million in March.

The Focus Touch is designed to allow do-it-yourself intracervical insemination, a process that places semen right near the cervix to increase the chance of a pregnancy. The kit will include a specially designed condom to collect the semen in a small cap; the small cap is then removed and fitted onto a long, thin tube for insemination. “The cap can stay inside the woman's body for three to five hours before being pulled out by a string, much like a tampon,” the paper reported.

The cap also can be stored in a refrigerated climate for up to seven days.

Intracervical insemination has a success rate of 10% to 15%, Bollinger reported.

Walgreens vet Michael Tovian, a one-time VP managed care sales and contracting, sits on IB2C’s board.

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