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For more than 60 years, contraception has been almost exclusively a womens responsibility. Today, women have more than 14 modern contraceptive options, while men have just two: condoms and vasectomies. That imbalance has pushed women to shoulder physical side effects, financial burden, medical risks, and the career impact of family planningcosts that have been accepted as the status quo for far too long. But the tide is shifting. Men are increasingly vocal about wanting to participate in family planning, and new science is finally catching up. For the first time in history, there are multiple male contraceptives in clinical trials, some only a few years away from approval. For companies and investors, this isnt just a public health opportunity, its a multibillion-dollar business opportunity in modern healthcare. A $25 Billion Opportunity The numbers are staggering. In the U.S. alone, there are approximately 70 million sexually active men ages 19 to 60. A landmark survey of 6,313 men in the U.S. found that 82% would try a new male contraceptive at some point in their lives. The same survey found that 49% of men would try a new male contraceptive within 12 months of it being on the market. A downside case looks like 34.3 million potential male contraceptive users. Some estimate that there are 17 million early adopters.Reaching just a fraction of the men interested in male contraception would result in a blockbuster product: For example, 5 million prescriptions for male contraception in the U.S. annually (half of the number of women who are on the Pill) would result in $10 billion-plus of annual recurring revenue. Globally, the opportunity is even larger. There are roughly 2.5 billion sexually active men in the world, and surveys indicate that interest in male contraceptives is even higher in countries like the U.K., Europe, Canada, and Australia. This market potential is why Amboy St. Ventures highlighted male contraception as one of the largest ghost markets in womens health.Sexual health is routinely underestimated by investors, yet the category routinely proves its commercial strength time and time again. Viagra and Cialis each scaled to blockbuster status with annual revenues of $1.8 billion and $2.5 billion for Pfizer and Eli Lilly, respectively. Truvada for HIV preexposure prophylaxis generated approximately $3 billion for Gilead in 2018 by enabling safer sexual activity. Meanwhile, testosterone and hormone-replacement therapies represent another multibillion-dollar sector, driven largely in part by the desire to preserve libido and sexual well-being. Theres no reason male contraception cant become the next big sexual health blockbuster. A Digital-First Model We are in the age of telemedicine. Hims & Hers (valued at $8.7 billion today) launched by targeting mens health needs, such as erectile dysfunction, premature ejaculation, and hair loss. It proved what many underestimated: Men will seek out healthcare when it is accessible, discreet, and convenient. The early adopters who want male contraceptives are similarly digitally native. They wont need their doctor to recommend a new contraceptive; theyll be actively searching for it on their phones. On a recent episode of the podcast Cheeky Pint, Dave Ricks, the CEO of Eli Lilly, said that the reason why LillyDirect works so well for GLP-1s is because The diagnosis step [is] dead easy. Everybody knows the biomarker tool in their bathroom. It’s called the scale. They can know if the drug’s working, and we can offer telehealth post-pandemic at scale. In other words, a straightforward condition and clear feedback loop make remote care feasible. Male contraception fits that mold perfectly: No complex diagnosis or workup is neededa simple at-home sperm check can provide confidence that the method is working. Furthermore, the need for contraception is even more universal than reducing obesity and presents a massive opportunity for a first mover to capture the male birth control market via a direct-to-consumer, digital-first approach. Whats in Development After decades of little progress, several novel male contraceptives are now in clinical trials, addressing a range of preferences: NES/T (Nesterone-Testosterone gel): The most clinically advanced product, NES/T is a topical gel applied to the shoulders daily. Inspired by products in the TRT and HRT space, NES/T delivers a combination of hormones to suppress sperm production while maintaining normal hormone levels and minimizing side effects. A Phase II b trial including 462 couples was recently completed to evaluate its safety, efficacy, and reversibility. Contraline, which secured the development rights from the Population Council, is now preparing for a Phase III trialthe first Phase III male contraceptive trial in history. YCT-529: The nonhormonal daily pill temporarily halts sperm production by blocking a vitamin A pathway in the testes. The first human safety study showed promising tolerability, and now YourChoice Therapeutics is testing whether it reliably suppresses sperm in a Phase I b/II a trial. This compound could become a convenient oral contraceptive for men if it proves safe, effective, and reversible. ADAM: This is a long-acting, reversible contraceptive implant (essentially an IUD for men). ADAM is a nonhormonal hydrogel implanted into the vas deferens, blocking sperm passage until the gel dissolves or is removed. A first-in-human trial showed ADAM is safe and effective for two years. Contraline, the company behind ADAM, is advancing the device toward a larger trial. Given the potential $25 billion-plus market size and mens desire for having multiple options to choose from (just like women do), it is unlikely that male contraception will be a winner-takes-all market. Each of these products may be a blockbuster in its own right. In 1960, the launch of the female Pill sparked a social revolution and created one of the most profitable drug categories in history. Sixty-plus years later, the next sexual health revolution is overdue. This time, it may be led by men. (Disclosure: Foreground Capital is an investor in Contraline and YourChoice Therapeutics, and Amboy St. Ventures is an investor in Contraline.)
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E-Commerce
While speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 21, Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, said AI could bring about “civil unrest” by destroying jobs, and that businesses and governments need to step in to help. He made the comments in response to a question about whether AI will lead to fewer jobs over the next several years. Dimon said he believes the impact won’t be as catastrophic to the labor market as some are predicting, but he also didn’t deny some inevitable upheaval. “Don’t put your head in the sand,” he urged. “It is what it is. We’re gonna deploy it.” He continued, “Will it eliminate jobs? Yes. Will it change jobs? Yes. Will it add some jobs? Probably. . . . However, it may go too fast for society, and if it goes too fast for society thats where governments and businesses [need to] in a collaborative way step in together and come up with a way to retrain people and move it over time. Dimon pitched the idea that local governments and businesses are going to need to provide support to workers in the form of income assistance programs, relocation assistance, and retraining to avoid mass unemployment. “We’re not gonna kill all of our employees because of AI,” he said. “We’re just not.” The CEO also said that phasing in the technology slowly is the best approach in order to give people time to adjust and for businesses to come up with solutions, even if that means additional government regulation. He cautioned that companies should not conduct mass layoffs all at once: Youll have civil unrest. You want the government to tell you you cant lay off a whole bunch of people at JPMorgan? moderator Zanny Minton Beddoes, editor-in-chief of The Economist, asked. Wed agree, Dimon replied. If we have to do that to save society. He caveated this should be done at a local levelfor example, governments providing incentives for retraining employees or giving them assistance. In the past, Dimon hasn’t been shy about criticizing the government for too much regulation or what he deems the wrong regulation. In fact, he opposes other precautionary measures like capping credit card interest at 10%. Last year, he called the government “inefficient” and “not very competent” and said he hoped the Department of Government Efficiency would be “quite successful.” Regardless of the worries that Dimon expressed about the pace of AI, job losses, and the potential for the technology to “do something terrible,” he seemed ready to accept his own company’s fatewhatever it may be. When asked if JPMorgan will have fewer employees over the next five years, he predicted that it would. Still, not everyone agreed with Dimon’s statements on AI’s impact on jobs. Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia, said that labor shortages are the issue we should be more concerned with, arguing that AI is actually creating more roles than it is stealing. “This is the largest infrastructure build-out in human history,” Huang said. “That’s gonna create a lot of jobs.”
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E-Commerce
For all the talk of how artificial intelligence will revolutionize the way we live and work, there are few industries where generative AI has already had a profound impact. Across the education space, however, from K-12 schools to universities, AI has been widely adopted by students and teachers alike. Educators are using AI to create lesson plans and save time on administrative work and even grading. And students now regularly use AI chatbots in the classroom and for help with assignmentsto varying results. The rapid clip of AI adoption has raised fraught questions about academic integrity and responsible use of the technology, among both teachers and students. But colleges and universities are also grappling with how to meet the moment and equip a new generation of students with the AI skills they will inevitably need as the workplace transforms. In a panel discussion this weekwhich aired as part of an Education for Impact webinar presented by Inc., Fast Company, and Texas A&M Universitya group of education innovators shared how their companies are partnering with higher education institutions to do exactly that. Laura Ipsen, the president and CEO of education tech company Ellucian, talked about how an AI-powered solution called Ellucian Journey enables continuous learning by pairing skills with actual career paths and workforce gaps. It [has] got to almost be real-time and predictive, Ipsen said during the panel. What are the skills that . . . are going to match the global market of today? Because it’s evolving very quickly. We’ve got to leverage the power of AI to build those solutions and capabilities across all of education technology to enable that. These are the types of things that are going to put a great spotlight on higher educationthat they are transformational [and] moving with speed. Online learning platforms like edX and its parent company 2U have made it possible for workers to upskill and reskill at different points in their careers, through certifications and courses from top higher education institutions. What we are trying to do, working with our partner institutions, is make sure that people have the right skills at the right time, said Anant Agrawal, the chief academic officer of 2U and founder and former CEO of edX. If you are 35 and you have a couple of kids, the odds that you’re going to be able to go back to university and get a new degree are zero. So really, your only choice is to do something online, and you don’t have the time or patience to spend two years or four years learning something new. As lifelong learning becomes the norm, colleges and universities can play a crucial role in reaching people long after they have left the education system. EdX is now offering courses on generative AIincluding one taught by generative AI, Agrawal saidthat are tailored to workers and leaders who need to get up to speed on the technology. A partnership with Microsoft called CxO Edge caters to executives who want to run their business by harnessing AI. Employers are having their employees take courses on our platform . . . like AI for finance or AI for marketing, or more foundational subjects like core AI, Agrawal said. We’re just seeing a huge, huge embrace of AI courses and content by employers. Some higher education institutions have been reluctant to adopt or invest in AI, to which Ipsen argues: You have got to jump into the sandbox and play with it, because this is going to happen. It’s going to happen with you or without you. Many colleges and universities are facing existential questions about their value in a world that is being reshaped by AI, especially as tuition costs continue to rise and new graduates struggle to find employment. Lee Weiss, the chief commercial officer of higher education at Kaplan, believes thats an opportunity for colleges and universities to step up. We’re at a point right now where there’s more disagreement on whether higher ed is relevant, Weiss said during the panel. Universities have a really important role here to make sure that the degrees [and certifications] that students are getting are relevant for a fast-changing world. Making sure that students are getting the AI skills that they need to be competent and confident is really, really important.
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E-Commerce
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