Interesting tidbit on EVFM's contraceptive gel Phexxi. According to the FDA label, the 7-menstrual cycle pregnancy rate was 13.7% for study participants (study condition was agreement to have vaginal intercourse at least 3 times per cycle). Slightly better than Russian Roulette odds (16.7%). Is that good enough to become more than a niche product in a crowded marketspace? Also, high incidence of adverse effects, mostly mild.

 

And BTW, the reason the efficacy rate is similar to male condoms, which is about 15% pregnancy rate per year of use, has to do with the "male" part of the term, not the "condoms" part. With perfect condom use, pregnancy rate per year is about 2%. Given that the Prexxi data were derived from study participants, it would not be unreasonable to think that real-world effectiveness will be less than study effectiveness.