Condom campaign heralds arrival of weapon against AIDS
AIDS weekly 1994: 8-10
1994
ISSN/ISBN: 1069-1456 PMID: 12288415 Document Number: 287386
Wisconsin Pharmacal's Female Health Company stated plans for the launch of the Reality female condom at a press conference in New York. The disposable polyurethane barrier contraceptive is a soft sheath that is open on one end and closed at the other. Reality began to appear on retail shelves in the US in August 1994, and it is available over the counter in all major drug store chains, many supermarket chains, independent pharmacies, and grocery stores. The company hopes to ultimately obtain about 2% of sexually active women as regular users, or about one million regular users on an annual basis. In 1993, male condom sales exceeded 700 million units. In late August 1994, the Female Health Company sent letters to 65,000 pharmacies and 50,000 physicians announcing the availability of Reality in retail outlets. A professional sales force of more than 60 people began presenting Reality to more than 10,000 selected high-potential U.S. physicians and other health care professionals. Before FDA approval, a six-month contraceptive study found that when used consistently and correctly, Reality's pregnancy failure rate was 2.6%; the typical failure rate was 12.4%. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that Reality's polyurethane sheath is an effective barrier to HIV and to a viral particle smaller than hepatitis B. One limited STD clinical study found that the reinfection rate of trichomoniasis was 0% when the female condom was used consistently and 14.7% when it was not used with every sex act. One study will measure Reality's effectiveness as a barrier to gonorrhea, chlamydia, and syphilis, and another study will explore what method of protection women will use when given a choice. An ongoing study at the University of Alabama at Birmingham's School of Public Health is looking at Reality's efficacy at preventing gonorrhea, chlamydia, and herpes simplex-2, compared with the male condom.