Veru’s new female condom measures up

The Female Health Company, now known as Veru Healthcare following its merger with Aspen Park Pharmaceuticals, earlier this year introduced its Female Condom, FC2, at both Walgreens and Kinney Drugs, and the company is preparing a significant launch into the retail pharmacy space in the new year.

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The product is being expanded to the general market in 2017, and that new prophylactic represents a true differentiation to the Durex, LifeStyles and Trojan condoms on the market today. As a prophylactic, it measures well against the condom competition. It’s as strong, more tactile, less disruptive to the moment and is compatible with both oil-based and water-based lubricants.

And it will likely bring new consumers to a category that heretofore had been shopped predominantly by men — it’s a safe-sex choice around which women have greater control, which brings more women to the category Also, it’s ideal for both post-menopausal women and men who have been diagnosed with erectile dysfunction, and that brings more older couples to the category.

The product already has a strong public sector backing, both in the United States and abroad, and was recently included in government- dispensed care packages in Florida and Brazil as part of separate initiatives to stop the spread of the Zika virus. In Africa, the new product has been a key instrument in that continent’s fight against HIV.

“Our heritage is about public health,” Kelli Rodriguez, director of sales and education, Americas at Veru Healthcare, told Drug Store News. “We have these great partnerships with the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] and departments of health throughout the country,” she said. So when the Zika virus first started becoming a concern, especially to women who are already pregnant, the Female Health Company was one of the first private-sector companies called in to help address the possible transmission of the disease through intercourse.

In addition, the FC2 represents a point of differentiation across birth control methods as a nonhormonal option. “Millennials — they’re [looking for] more organic, natural [options],” Rodriguez said.

Beyond traditional consumer outreach, Veru will be supporting its launch next year with educational efforts against OBGYNs and sex therapists, as well as a dedicated continuing education opportunity for pharmacists.