Today on International Women’s Day, Policy Cures Research published their G-FINDER snapshot report on global investment in contraceptive R&D. It shows that while overall funding for contraceptive R&D has stagnated since 2018 – and in fact recently declined – there have been encouraging trends towards human-centered design in contraceptive innovations: shifting to less/non-hormonal, user-controlled, and male and unisex methods. However, next-generation contraceptives remain at early-stages in the pipeline. R&D is also dominated by three main players only – the Gates Foundation, the US NIH and industry – leaving the landscape vulnerable to the interests of just a few parties. Greater and broader investment is needed to advance progress in contraceptive R&D!
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