that is in what is known as Larks the Holy Grail of contraception and Larks are long acting reversible contraception that is that said it and you forget it until you're ready to have kids then you turn on and off like a light switch like that is what it should be and the holiest of holy Grails of larks uh and of contraception is known as a non- hormonal Lark meaning you get all of that benefit without those Health complications that can come from hormones

so hello Luke uh sorry Fox and welcome to impulse it's a it's a pleasure to have you here I'm really excited about our upcoming conversation um it's I think it's certainly will be the first time that we talk about sex on the on on the podcast so I'm excited for that um I have to admit that I did not have the topic of male contraception on my radar a few weeks back um now was I considering actually discussing it um discussing this type of medical technology on the show and I think the reason was that I was simply not aware of everything that was happening in that field and um as I Was preparing the

episode and diving into um your activities with next life sciences but also all the research going on there in other groups um I have to say I was really surprised about everything that was happening in that field um which I think will have very important implications from a medical standpoint but also from like um a social point of view with everything related to birth control in general and um the current Paradigm where in most cases these days women have to carry that weight um due to lack of practical and reversible approaches for men so I'm really curious to learn about the approach that you guys have been pionering in the last few

years how it all works um what the benefits and the risks are from for whom it is suited and on a higher level what this will change for our society when we think about birth control and um sexuality in general so so I guess that sets the scene for the next hour or together I'm really thankful for your time and for AC accepting the invite and before we dive right into the topic would you like to present yourself absolutely I really appreciate uh you having me on the show and getting to uh chat with everyone who's tuning in uh it's an exciting topic and as you pointed out it's uh male contraception

is something that is uh so desperately needed by the majority of the world and yet uh something that many don't know enough about and so we get so many questions and hopefully we can dive into some of those today that's great can you could you tell us a bit about your background because when I Was preparing the episode I looked a bit at your profile what you did before so you come from a very entrepreneural background uh think in the Aerospace industry notably you've worked with high impact nonprofit organizations with a very strong social component um how did you end up in the medical technology space and especially in that field of M b

control yeah it's a a great question uh for me I just absolutely love tackling big and complicated problems and uh for me the interesting work is in finding new Solutions across all my companies every problem area that I focus on uh a few years back I was uh working in the defense and drone and Aviation Technologies all of these are Industries uh very similar to the medical space and that they're highly regul ated and people see him as like this far distant field but yet something that can make massive impact uh around the world and I had the Epiphany one day that led me into male contraception and for me I was

at uh as part of my role at the US Chamber of Commerce as a vice chair there I was uh in a meeting at the white house uh helping to advise on how we uh bring about innovation in the Drone space AV uh Aviation flying cars and you know what is that next big thing for human prosperity and it just struck me like a brick in the face like with all these incredible Innovations happening how are we ignoring the fact that we're missing just the fundamental human right of the ability to choose when and if to have a child like the one thing that makes for the biggest uh opportunity for someone's life uh and

yet half all pregnancies are unplanned and it just like blows my mind and it's like how you know all these things are important we need to do them and at the same time we also need to solve this uh for me it's really personal in that uh I grew up in the foster care system and I saw just firsthand the devastating consequences of what happens when people aren't able to choose when and if to have a child and that's been just a huge Focus for me and led me down the path of finding what is the solution to that realiz that M contraception was massive Gap and that me toing next life sciences

and now preparing to launch plan a no that's that's that's great could you explain to us because I think for lots of the folks that listen to the show are in Europe and I think they there might not be um you know familiar with the foster care system U could you explain to us you know what it was and I think you you also have um um I mean quite a let's say a heavy pass or you you you've gone through some difficult times um I I I I I saw that when I was listening to the the whatever podcast episode you did uh last year where you go into quite some details

there um I don't want to you know for I don't want to force you to share anything that feels comfortable um but maybe you can explain us what the forer care system is and yeah what it's been your experience that I think also motivates you in you know getting there where we can have better solutions for MP control yeah it the the the foster care system it's uh has analogous systems through throughout Europe uh just commonly known as orphans right somebody who lacks a family uh whether because the family disappears for some reason or in my case uh my uh biological mother was very

abusive uh and did a lot of things that were uh that were not okay and so uh eventually the police got involved and she was arrested and I was left without

uh without a family mhm and uh it's it really put me in this position where uh everyone definitely assumed the the worse and of as they do with people that are uh in that situation and for me I I I saw very

personally just the those like the little just glint of uh of of light that uh of and hope that

people gave me and uh said that you know hey like you know you can go down One path that is expected or like you have a choice here uh yeah and it's it's that

realization that like just by giving somebody those small tools um and those small bits of Hope and and the ability to see that the world is so much bigger than the present circumstance uh allowed me to uh to lean in and say okay well how can I help people like I want to help people and it's it's what led me to starting companies and nonprofits I I I never wanted to start a company I was never like I want to be a CEO it was just like hey I saw a need a need that needed something that need to be done uh my my first was in human trafficking and I

just like wow this is something that like I I saw surrounding me every day in the foster care orphan system uh with my peers just falling right right into uh trafficking and uh I it's like this

something has someone has to do something and it didn't seem like anybody was doing enough because all my friends were you know ending up in just absolutely horrendous uh situations and unfortunately some of them no longer with us uh because of it and so that's where I started the my nonprofit in that space and then I started to realize like that's how we can help uh or at least how I can help is by finding these problems that need to be solved and either joining forces or if some you know I ask myself if not me then who and if not now then when and if it's like gosh dang it it's it I guess it's got to

be me and it's got to be now then I end up with a new start nonprofit or a new company no that's incredible and thanks for for sharing that and I think I mean we can already you know feel the the incredible Tri that you have and I'm maybe we can you know shift gears towards the the your activities with next life senses so could you explain as a bit we talk about um know male birth control um in the intro some of the that say issues in society at the moment um could you explain what's the mission with next life sciences yeah the mission is really to help and enable people to make that so

important choice to prevent the uh the social economic consequences of what happens when you have an unplanned pregnancy again around the world uh and including throughout Europe and the United States uh about half all pregnancies are unplanned which means that's a coin flip odd of being able to make the most important choice yeah of someone's life and we know that from a and what drives our mission is recognizing that when someone has their first child it is what uh enables them to either Excel and uh their social economic position or stagnates and when you look at things like teenage pregnancy see you look at people who are in college who then drop out like what

it what it does for women's access to the workplace like it it permeates through all aspects of society look at crime rates and how uh and how they're tied to un plan pregnancies it's astronomical the impact and that's why uh unplanned pregnancies is known as the social dial it's the one thing that we can dial and see a very specific impact when we reduce unplanned pregnancies we see an increase in social economic stat we see see families lifted out of poverty we see entire communities chain and for so long the way that that's been done is uh fortunately uh but unfortunately in that it's stayed this way is you know

Distributing condoms or uh you know giving women uh female contraception which I think is really an amazing thing that we've done to help Elevate uh so many people and at the same time we can't stop there and we have to recognize again that's we've great we've covered half of the population like there's this other half that's waiting eagerly for a solution yeah and maybe let's I I guess we we want to understand a bit more you know what what the solution is so um maybe let's let's also you touched on some of these elements but what are some of the emerging approaches to male birth control and then you can also explain us

you know what is the approach that you are developing with next life senses and what sets it I mean what does set itself apart from from the rest yeah if you if you look across the male contraceptive space right now it is exploding with interest there are so many uh different technologies that are being uh explored and scientific progress that's being made and I firmly believe that all this scientific innovation lifts all boats Innovation begets Innovation there reports of early uh tests of men using different creams and pills and hormonal methods have while I think those are really interesting to explore what we look at is uh the the user demand has

been in very Central in one category and that is in what is known as Larks the Holy Grail of contraception and Larks are long acting reversible contraception that is that said it and you for get it until you're ready to have kids and you turn on and off like a light switch like that is what it should be and the holiest of holy Grails of larks uh and of contraception is known as a non- hormonal Lark meaning you get all that benefit without those Health complications that can come from hormones yeah and that is what we're developing at next life sciences and where we have the world's first and only

non hormonal Lark for men known as plan a and it's Unique in that we're developing it to ensure that it can satisfy people's concerns with hormones as they become as we as Society become more and more aware of the complications that can come from that uh while still saying please like we're glad that that exists uh for women and that they have that as an option and at the same time we can't stop there we need to be able to offer more effective solutions that are also ensure safety and so what's the could you explain to us you know the science and the functioning behind plan A the the way that plan a

works is that it's uh derived from contraceptive technologies that have been around for more than 40 years starting back in the 1970s scientific research in India led to the development of a method of male burst control using hydrogels to inhibit the flow of sperm that method known as rice hug underwent preclinical and even clinical testing in India with Incredible successful results from there about 10 years ago the parsus foundation which is a nonprofit based in the United States optimized the technology brought it to the US and developed what is known as vasel gel that technology was then shown to be deris and Incredibly effective uh including in non-human primate studies

and that's where uh parsus Foundation partnered with next life sciences to bring vasil gel formerly risug into our contraceptive system known as plan a and plan a works as a

quick 10-minute doctor's visit that gives 10 years of thought-free protection and then reversible any time whether it's 10 days 10 months 10 years later you can reverse it and so that you can make that intentional choice so if you're going off to college and you say hey I know I want kids probably in the future but I don't want them right now it's that you can make that choice uh and that's where it's been interesting we see so much demand from uh from parents uh as well as people that are newly in relationships they're saying hey like it doesn't make sense for me to uh have to put the burden completely on

my partner what can we do as a couple to make that intentional Choice together I mean that sounds incredible so you said like 10 year of efficacy reversible um how would the procedure look like and would it be like delivered would would that be something that like a general practitioner would be able to deliver or would that be rather you know urologist or like specialists in a hospital setting um so yeah two questions there to understand better how it works for sure yeah diving into the details and to clarify this is uh all based off of an incredible amount of data uh and at the same time we are still in development and working with

FDA uh to for a commercial launch uh in the United States and then with EU Regulators uh for a launch within Europe uh the way that we're designing it is to make it so it's a very quick and simple outpatient procedure and I say procedure with a giant Aster because it's it would be like if you go get your blood drawn and telling people you're going to go get a procedure like we're talking very simple uh with that it's a uh it's a

hydrogel that is injected into the vast defin uh and the vast Defence of course is the tube that carries sperm now in a vasectomy that's what gets snipped and cauterized uh vasectomy being permanent sterilization that's very difficult to reverse so in our case instead of snipping it it's just a quick simple injection of this hydrogel the hydrogel goes in as a liquid it then dissipates and the uh the liquid aspect uh uh

dissipates and you're left with this uh microscopic Matrix this Matrix operates as a flexible filter that blocks the flow of sperm that to prevent pregnancy and at the same time allows all other fluids to pass through so I like to say it's all of the juice none of the seed exactly so it doesn't mean that it blocks ejaculation it's more like the like sperm gets blocked goes back like I mean exactly just get yeah exactly get

reabsorbed right back into the body just as the case with you know if you decide not to ejaculate for a day and the hydrogel that's being used what's the composition of it to the extent possible you can share the hydrogel is a proprietary formula uh that's uh some aspects of it are patented other aspects are trade secret uh but it's a biocompatible hydrogel that's inert and uh some of the

really interesting properties of it that make it quite magical is that it's also it's bioadhesive and so with previous attempts that people have had to block uh the bast defin uh the problem is is that the the body is like we arguably have one purpose as as it an organism that's to

procreate right uh and so the body is incredibly good at evading whatever mechanism you have to stop that and so other methods have uh tried to block the and put filters or other ways block the vast Def and the vast def literally just like expands around it and goes and so what's really neat about uh our hydrogels that we've shown that it's bioadhesive meaning no matter how much the uh the vast Defence expands or contracts or even tries to push it out it stays very firmly in place now at the same time it also while it's uh it's a

my permanent fixture there it's also has to be uh fluid enough to be able to be flexible so that you can't even feel it and then on top of that it also has to be at the moment's notice as soon as you uh place the right uh process uh start the right process in place which is a quick injection of sodium bicarbonate simple baking soda it immediately dissolves breaks the cross links and turns back into a liquid and so it's such an it's an incredible hydrogel and that it's incredibly durable and flexible and at the same time can be

removed in a moment's notice that's super interesting I mean I I used to work with such materials when I was studying so I studied biomedical engineering there were a lot of like actual projects there were more like you know research focus in the in biomaterials and stem cell engineering Fields um and is it like um from natural

sources or it's like a synthetic uh polymer or something um not yeah but with without going into the the chemical composition of it I could say that it it is biocompatible and has been shown to not produce that inflammatory response which is which has been the case with other hydrogels used I can imagine know that's great but then I mean it it really sounds like you know kind of like revolutionary in a way are there like any what are like some of the potential risks or some of the things you are seeing in some of the ongoing studies or uh up to up to the development stage where you guys

are there's been dozens of uh pre-clinical and even clinical studies uh in animal models and uh laboratory tests and even and uh human models and

we've seen uh an Inc an incredible success rate both in safety and efficacy uh ultimately they'll be up to The Regulators to make the final determination on but all of our yeah all of our results have been uh have given us the confidence to uh to prepare for our launch and as as we prepare for that launch and as we look at uh that one of the big aspects of any potential uh complications is really just ensuring that the doctors to your question earlier you know who can do this uh it's we we're designing it so that any doctor can do it uh we are designing it so that it doesn't take uh tactile practice or

feel uh to uh so that there's not a uh you know different skill levels of doctors doing really removing all of those uh uh

any any uh difference between two doctors by designing uh a Lumin access device uh our Lumin access device enables it so that it the doctors can get it on the first try can have confirmation uh before and the device itself will ensure that the gel is released once the it confirms that it's in properly in the vast Defence uh which is key because this allows doctors to be able to do it much more efficiently a much broader range of doctors and practitioners to be able to offer it and gives a man a piece a Bine that he can walk in and walk out very quickly uh with a uh with a reliable uh

contraceptive solution and is there a requirement to get like some kind of like local anesthetics when the procedure happens yeah so local uh anesthetics so numbing cream is applied uh to ensure that there's no discomfort uh or uh or any pain that's felt it's very it be it's like again like getting your blood drawn but with numbing cream so even better I see um I had some follow

questions regarding the the stage of the development of the technology so you said that this was initially developed in India where they even got to the stage where this was tested on humans right so my first question was like is there do we are there still like you know men maybe Indians around you know benefiting from the protection it allows for or yeah because I also imagine that of course due to the time these testings happened reg and the location where it was like the regulatory framework is different than the one you're working in at the moment um but yeah just to understand um what what stage are you into

development for sure there's there's uh an incredible amount of uh excitement in India for this and uh is from what we've seen they're definitely men who are still benefiting from it some opted to Get It reversed because that's the beauty of it uh and I know others uh did keep it there was a really pivotal 13-y

yearlong study uh that was done in India that uh really helps us to say with confidence while we undergo our clinical testing and work with the respective uh regulatory bodies within the US and uh Europe uh gives us confidence to say uh from their results they were able to show that it's just as effective on day one as it is year 13 and you don't have the degration that some hydrogels have where uh at some unknown point in time all a sudden the hydrogel might decide that it's done doing its job and it's going on vacation uh with uh with plan a it's

something that you you set it and it stays reliably uh effective until you're ready to reverse it and I mean I guess the 10 year so the 10 year mark is that really what you're aiming for in terms of medical claim in the final product uh because I guess that's that's you know in a way it's a range that you you guys are deciding upon and second question would be around when you know if if you want to get it you know just to keep it do you have to you know reverse it and then have another injection or can you just get an additional injection without having to revers it before yeah we we uh

we're studying exactly that question we believe that uh from the test results that we've seen it makes most sense to recommend at the 10-year Mark to reverse it uh or Ren and so if you're if you reach the 10-year Mark you can get it renewed and that the renewal looks like a reversal and then a reimplant and that allows it to uh to fully Set uh again

and to give you again that confidence we really it the the key here is that we want something that is as close to 100% reliable as anything out there right and

unfortunately the uh the bars really low in terms of contraception you look at like condoms they have an 16 to 18% failure rate yeah that is a lot right and then you look at female contraception and in perfect use female contraception is very effective the problem with it is is that there's so many contraindications within so many comp things that can complicate it such as taking antibiotics not taking at the right time every day right U changing of diet like there's so many things that can complicate that that you see uh High failure rates and so we're designing plan a to ensure that if a man has it there's no question is it working yeah

no that's that's that's that's really greatly impressive to hear um so you mentioned that you know safety and efficacy um in the US was was assessed through the work of the prus foundation I guess they also did some part of the pr preclinical what we call preclinical testing so uh before going into humans testing on different animal models I I I think I read some things around um mice um monkeys as well um are you guys running at the moment the first human clinical trials yeah it's that's what's the really exciting stage that we're at which is now that all of these preclinical Studies have been done and uh with Incredible results including in

non-human primates such as uh different uh monkey species uh which as side note if you're going to be a monkey doing a a study that is by far the best yeah it sounds pretty good yeah there was the last one was a two-year long study and it was uh okay quick 10-minute uh you know veterinarian visit and then you have two years of uh of partying it up and a few scientists watching so if you're a Voyer monkey then it's then it then it's good but uh we are launching our first uh clinical trial in the United States uh and as well as a couple yet to be announced other

countries and we're launching that here right at the end of this year 2023 going into q1 and 2024 uh we'll be announcing

uh those uh that launch that will follow the clinical work that was done in India uh with uh additional uh additional uh

study constraints to ensure that it can be adopted by uh the results can be adopted by countries around the world that's incredible and I I assume that you mentioned you know that there was like a real demand from from men all over the world for such a solution so I guess the recruitment is easy or right I mean I don't know if there are like particular inclusion or exclusion criteria but um yes uh plan a is being

developed to be able to satisfy the needs and lifestyles of a wide range of men and so we're looking at men who are both young uh who again are going going off to college age we have uh men who are who are expressing uh interests that are going that are in a new relationship a long-term relationship they just got married and now they're you know trying to figure out okay how do we plan our future and figure out what's you know how we can uh invest in our careers and then have children and then we have men who are older and who are otherwise uh thinking about getting a vasectomy but

say well maybe we maybe just small chance we want a child in the future and it doesn't make sense to uh make a permanent choice and so we have uh a huge range of men in fact uh about 80% of men right now are not trying to have a kid and so that's a huge amount of people we're talking billions of people that are Desperately Seeking a solution that literally have zero options other than someone throwing a rubber condom at their face and say you know and saying here this is for you and it just that makes sense in some context like condoms are great people should use them and uh

in many contexts but there's other contexts where such as long-term committed relationship where it just doesn't make sense to have to rely on that especially because it's great at one thing which is preventing STDs but it's not great at another thing preventing pregnancy and that's really where uh we come together with that as a solution uh given the context if you're trying to prevent STDs great you know have plan a to ensure to give you the confidence and then use a condom but other than that we really want people to be able to uh share in that that full intimacy with their partner and to give them the solution yeah that's that's really cool

and I was wondering so the the clinical the human clinical trial is that something that will like how long will it last and how far are we from or how far we from the goal that you guys have in terms of you know Market approval and Market availability the clinical trial uh for plan a is a multi-year multi-site

multicountry clinical trial that we're launching at the same time the value of what we're doing is that we get data immediately uh and with the preclinical models uh that that we did we were able to see uh within uh just like with the

vasectomy uh as soon as you block the flow of sperm yes you have to clear the pipes uh for what's remaining uh but once you clear those pipes you're set and so uh we we expect to have uh clinical data that we can publish within months of launching the trial that uh those that preliminary data uh can allow us to then uh expand

the trial uh to additional countries and additional sites we expect get to run this for many years uh in order to continue to expand the uh the claimed time of efficacy uh going

towards that 10-year Mark in that stepwise faction I'm initially uh planning for a one-year uh clinical trial so that we can release it with that oneye of claim and then additional years uh expanding beyond that as well as backed by our uh our laboratory work

which has shown incredible efficacy uh in uh accelerating time based models I see so yeah so it's more like 2025 2026 that would be like first launch with a claim of like one year and then you guys could like just build upon the data that you accumulate and the proes that efficacy goes beyond that you know duration okay that's that's super interesting um yeah no that's very very helpful at least from from my side um in terms of we'll put you on the list it's okay let's go yeah yeah I mean if if it comes to Switzerland I'm I would be curious to try um in terms we've seen a

lot of a lot of demand from Switzerland interest Nordic region is yeah we we have uh we have a full an intern whose literal full-time job is just managing all of the messages that come to us daily across all of our platforms from email and social media and uh the Nordic region you know I think maybe very Progressive and uh and want to uh to ex

have that expanded paradigm shift uh recognizing it's not just these subtle in iterations but like how can we actually like do things better yeah oh

maybe that's that that's something that we have we have here for sure um in terms of access to the technology so um current male contraceptive methods are to my knowledge um not reimbursed by Health Systems at least in the US and I guess like a visectomy that needs to be paid out of pocket so people have to pay for it it's not their insurance that pay for it um not knowing how much plan A would cost um unless you can share any info you have already in that regard um how confident are you that this could be you know at some point reimbursed or you know how could you facilitate the access

to that technology to the broadest population possible yeah in the United States and in countries around the world but just because you mentioned in the United States specifically uh vasectomies are

uh are most often covered by Insurance most insurance providers do cover it uh there was a uh uh there's a state in

federal law there's a requirement for uh Health Care Providers to cover female uh contraception the uh there was because male contraception didn't exist there wasn't a similar mandate but uh but masectomy as an example is covered by almost all insurance now affil is really

critical uh to what we're developing and it's what is enables a product uh to be truly available to those who need it and to accessible by everyone who wants it and uh too often we see affordability as something that gets handled after the fact and afterthought uh in uh technology uh development especially in the medical space that's not how we are approaching affordability uh even this in this early process uh and from the earliest stages we're having conversations with key stakeholders such as insurance providers to ensure that it can be accessible uh we are working with uh various clinics uh that serve a wide range of populations uh both in uh

social economic disadvantaged areas as well as in rural areas to say you know what is it that you need as a health practitioner to ensure that you can deliver this to you know the the tundra uh as an example or to the dense humid uh jungles of Southeast Asia and so uh

as part of that we've learned a lot and have uh engineered our solutions to be able to uh to offer a solution to the

widest range of people uh and we've seen a lot of momentum around accessibility in the United States uh to help ensure that all Family Planning methods no matter who what gender you are uh can be accessible in fact just this last summer the White House issued an executive order that strengthens access to Affordable highquality contraception Family Planning Services we are building upon this momentum to make sure that plan a is accessible for everyone no matter where they are or what other limitations might be in their life recognizing that plan a again it's appeals to such a wide variety of people from those who need it because their social economic position

puts in position where they are looking for ways to elevate themselves out of poverty to people that are in a uh a

highrise in a you know multi-million dollar mansion in New York City uh to De demand we're seeing from Refugee uh camps uh where you know it's the it it's truly to me it's just a personal honor to be able to uh to serve so such a diverse population and to be thinking about you know how do we make this appealing to both a billionaire and to somebody who dreams of uh being U of uh

Financial Freedom and how can we help in help support them in that process it's truly just it's an exciting time to be alive it's really great to hear and um yeah I mean in I was about to ask like you know like what is the you know kind of like the philosophy of the the company because I mean if that goes through and you know there is such a high demand um we we can also go a bit into the details of you know maybe what you guys are doing or plan to do to convince some of the others who might be skeptical because I there there always I think um some some um some people will

not be like you know convinced by the concept from the K go um so what's the philosophy like is it like I mean you've You' worked in nonprofits um I assume your goal is not to say let's make a huge amount of money with this I sell the company and then I go leave on canari Islands or whatever um so could you tell us a bit what's the yeah what's the philosophy of the of the group you're leading in that regard absolutely I I I tell people frequently my people that I Mentor I say if you're if you want to make a lot of money like entrepreneurship is like may maybe for

some but it's it's that's that's not the path right like yes if you if you do well uh do good and you know you can potentially there's uh there's fruit at the end but for us I've built uh next life sciences as a public benefit corporation uh this means that uh we're not an nonprofit meaning we're just spending other people's money and we also aren't a uh a traditional company that's just designed to maximize profits our goal is to accomplish our mission and our mission is to unleash potential globally and we do that by moving fast by being methodical and developing solutions that are thoughtfully designed uh this is

again recognizing that the technology is consequential and impactful to so many this means that the research and development that goes to the regulatory approval to the marketization uh to how you communicate about this and how do you help people as you as you said gain that confidence to know that this is something that I can rely on that is why we're called plan a

the technology is plan a because it should be men's default it's what people want to be able to uh to use it's when I think about like uh so many important

Technologies we almost forget that there was a world before it you think of something like uber right or LIF or you know other countries you know analogous solutions to ride sharing or Airbnb and it's like it's hard to imagine like oh yeah there was a time before that that you had you know you had to figure out these other things you had to call a taxi and order it aead time and right all these different things uh or a cell phone and like these are things that fundamentally change how we live our lives and permeates in every corner of

how we live uh and this is what's really exciting what I think uh people should be thinking about when they're developing any type of solution or any whether they're a CEO of a company or they uh they're working and helping to create something that impacts lives is how is what we're creating not just selling a product but truly helping to transform someone's life and make it so much better than it was before like how do we deliver that to somebody and yes we need to make some money in the process because by making money enables us to expand even better greater to provide more access to more people yeah for sure and I mean like any medical

device developments these are not cheap things to to develop and to and to maintain so you know that's that's really understandable um I it just struck me like I so your product is called plan a um and I guess it's in opposition to plan B and when I was you know preparing the visit I was like but why why is it called Plan B and I realized that apparent this is in reference to I get in the US at least um so that's the the medication that that women have to take the day after like you know sexual intercourse to avoid having a kid um so just like um for for

those of the listeners who might were Be Wondering like why is this called plan a and doesn't have like you know I don't know fromal name or some other names um just an explanation there um thank you so much um Fox for your explanation I think you covered very well how the technology works you know quite in detail where you guys are standing in terms of the development the testing that has been done and I mean it seems to be very very solid then for sure I will be following closely where that goes because the potential is huge um the demand is there and yeah that's something that you know we and I think

we assumed for a long time um by the availability of the solutions you know that women have to carry that weight on top of everything else they have to carry I think as as men we're really really privileged um so no it's I learned a ton of things so I'm really thankful for for you attending the so um usually at the at the end of the each episode I have like a couple of um different recing questions that I ask to every guest the first one would be around um you know what resources would you recommend us to check out in order to know more about the field in which we

evolve um so you kind of like next Generation male BS control be books Publications websites yeah I welcome uh anyone who wants to learn more about male contraception in the space in general and all the exciting things happening in X Life Sciences you can uh follow along at mail uh excuse me planfor

men.com uh and planfor men.com or on social media uh we post across Instagram Tik Tok and Twitter uh sharing all the lating latest exciting things again looking to raise the over the tide uh so that all boats around the world can uh benefit from this technology that has great I'll put I'll put that in the show notes um could you share with us maybe that's a bit early to ask the question but could you ask could you share with us you know an anecdote from your work at next life sciences that made you realize the impact that you were having on on men's lives and pass patient lives in general yeah wow so so many come to mind

we uh I share a funny one uh there was uh we did a a survey of men uh CU we have over 50,000 men who've signed up for our interest list that's incredible and we've done like zero advertising we're not there you know we're not on any Billboards yet uh but uh we we we put out this question to some of our uh our interest list and said hey like to an investor who's asking why is this important why does this need to exist uh uh can you can you

give an explanation and uh we had an outpouring thousands of responses one of the uh one of the men said if I need to explain to uh to somebody with enough money to fund this why this needs to exist the end is nigh I thought it was just so you know everyone else was like because I have you know have all these children and I can't you know can't afford to to take care of them and you know um and my wife can't use contraception and like all these things that are true this guy just like said I not I'm not even going to answer this question like ke for God's

sake like this is isn't it obvious and I may or may not have sent that to an investor that's a great story yeah cool

um you know every episode I I really get inspired by by by the guest that I have the chance to to receive on the show and no exception um in that episode I I'm super grateful for your time um there are undoubtedly maybe you know other figures that you look up to yourself uh advanc in medical progress if you would recommend one of them as a potential guest for the podcast who would that be and why would you recommend her or him yeah uh I think there's there's there's a lot of really exciting things that are happening um there's a uh there's a someone I know

uh really well that's just do incredible things uh Meredith Perry uh she's a CEO of a company uh that is uh helping people I don't I think I have to be careful what I say but helping people to be able to uh again to live uh Fuller

lives through the technology he's developing uh yeah and but there's just so many people that come uh to mind when you ask that question that are you know Paving a new way and thinking about how do we not just like make these small iterations but truly uh create uh an entire New Market category that didn't exist before yeah no no that's that's incredible and that's the type of like Solutions I'm trying to kind of like you know cover in the in the through the podcast and also like you know share to to to abroad audience um you know for example we had like a wonderful episode it was I think

it was quite of one of the early ones episode six with uh a neurosci neurosurgeon actually Professor Justin BL she's working in Switzerland as well and they're developing a therapy um to like an implant that you would put on um people that suffer from um that cannot walk anymore basically where you enable them to walk again I think there are also like other applications in terms of know blood pressure regulations on but really like life-changing things um so yeah and one more episode with you I'm super grateful I think it was it was really as said like I I didn't have that on my radar at all until Tara wrote it

to me and I was like wow we need to I mean that that's incredible um so yeah I'll put all the links in the show notes and I will follow very closely your your progress um to the list listeners who are still with us um thank you for for joining and for your valuable time listening to the conversation with Fox I really hope you enjoyed it um I've been receiving a lot of feedback and guest suggestions since I started the show and I'm forever grateful for that it's really thanks to you guys and the amazing people that I get to meet through the show um don't forget to subscribe to it and and leave a festar

review on your preferred streaming platform it really helps me a lot driving the podcast forward um we also have a dedicated LinkedIn page where you can follow the activities as well as a website that I invite you to check out it's simply impulse podcast.com um you will find there the podcast newsletter as well that was launched a few weeks ago um where you can also subscribe to stay posted on the latest episodes of the the podcast and the latest in medical technology in general um so thanks again for your time and support thank you fox for your time um and yeah see you in the next one thanks so much

for having me thanks for watching the episode I hope you enjoyed it you can subscribe by clicking on the podcast Channel at the top right and watch another episode here at the bottom