This World Contraception Day, we’ve got some exciting insights to share.
Our colleagues at DesireLine, with MCI funding, just completed a landmark study of over 14,000 men across seven European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Türkiye, and the UK.
The results are inspiring.
Across the board, over half of men said they’d start using a novel male contraceptive within a year of approval (62% on average), and only a small minority said they would never use one. This study was designed to extend the multi-country demand research we funded in collaboration with the Gates Foundation back in 2023. With this new European data, the global evidence base now covers more than 32,000 men across 14 countries, with majority demand in nearly every one.
Once again: the data show that men are ready. They have been for some time.
What’s notable is where that demand sits. European men’s readiness now exceeds what’s been measured in the US, and it’s approaching the levels we’ve seen in some of the highest-demand low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) markets. Demand also isn’t limited to men who are already contraceptive users. Over half of men whose couples currently have no consistent protection say they’d adopt a new male method within a year.
New options wouldn’t just shift who’s responsible for contraception. They’d expand coverage altogether.
The data lands in the same month that we are seeing real policy momentum in Europe. On 16 September 2026, the European Parliament adopted its resolution on “Gender inequalities in health, specifically as regards gender-specific conditions”, which calls for increased investment in innovative research and development of globally applicable contraceptive technologies, including male contraceptives, with the aim of achieving greater gender equality and shared responsibility in family planning.”
That’s the European Parliament, on the record, naming male contraceptives as part of the solution to a funding gap it acknowledges has gone unaddressed for five years!
This is part of a pattern, not a one-off.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space committed €12 million to contraceptive R&D for all genders from 2026 to 2029, funding four interdisciplinary consortia working on approaches including sperm-specific ion channel inhibitors and methods to reversibly disrupt sperm transport. As Federal Minister Dorothee Bär put it, Germany is seeking “new, modern contraceptives that are safe, have few side effects, and take all genders into account.”
German Members of the European Parliament have been pushing on this for months, too. MEPs Peter Liese and Katarina Barley sent a letter to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in November of 2025 after the agency pointed to a lack of company interest as the reason no guidance on male contraceptives existed. The two MEPs countered that companies have no reason to invest without guidance to follow in the first place. That same month, a meeting at the European Parliament brought experts and EMA officials together; opening an important dialogue and preparing a path for facilitated developer-regulator engagement.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced their new Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for male contraceptive products on September 22, 2026. These TPPs provide a framework for guiding the development of male contraceptive products globally, outlining minimum and preferred product characteristics to “inform product developers, regulatory agencies, procurement agencies, and funders on R&D and public health priorities”.
Taken together, these moments are a powerful signal: Europe is shaping up as a leader in a field that has been neglected for far too long. And when male contraception is named, explicitly, as part of the gender equity conversation rather than separate from it, that’s exactly the shift we’ve been working toward.
It is our hope that this data strengthens that resolve.
European decision makers have also engaged in conversations about how to ensure novel male technologies are developed together, and made available to the men who want them in different regions of the world. Ensuring access to, and the impact of the technologies we fund is very important to us at MCI.
Men from Germany to Bangladesh, from Nigeria to France have spoken, and they want more options for preventing unintended pregnancy.
They want a future where that responsibility is shared rather than falling almost exclusively on women.
After decades of fighting for funding and attention for male contraceptive innovation, we hope this data, paired with the example set by European policy and regulatory leaders, gives investors and donors a clear signal: this is the moment to get involved. To support the advancements of these breakthrough technologies, to get them into the hands of the men, and couples to want them.
This World Contraception Day, we’ve got some exciting insights to share.
Our colleagues at DesireLine, with MCI funding, just completed a landmark study of over 14,000 men across seven European countries: Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Sweden, Türkiye, and the UK.
The results are inspiring.
Across the board, over half of men said they’d start using a novel male contraceptive within a year of approval (62% on average), and only a small minority said they would never use one. This study was designed to extend the multi-country demand research we funded in collaboration with the Gates Foundation back in 2023. With this new European data, the global evidence base now covers more than 32,000 men across 14 countries, with majority demand in nearly every one.
Once again: the data show that men are ready. They have been for some time.
What’s notable is where that demand sits. European men’s readiness now exceeds what’s been measured in the US, and it’s approaching the levels we’ve seen in some of the highest-demand low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) markets. Demand also isn’t limited to men who are already contraceptive users. Over half of men whose couples currently have no consistent protection say they’d adopt a new male method within a year.
New options wouldn’t just shift who’s responsible for contraception. They’d expand coverage altogether.
The data lands in the same month that we are seeing real policy momentum in Europe. On 16 September 2026, the European Parliament adopted its resolution on “Gender inequalities in health, specifically as regards gender-specific conditions”, which calls for increased investment in innovative research and development of globally applicable contraceptive technologies, including male contraceptives, with the aim of achieving greater gender equality and shared responsibility in family planning.”
That’s the European Parliament, on the record, naming male contraceptives as part of the solution to a funding gap it acknowledges has gone unaddressed for five years!
This is part of a pattern, not a one-off.
Germany’s Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space committed €12 million to contraceptive R&D for all genders from 2026 to 2029, funding four interdisciplinary consortia working on approaches including sperm-specific ion channel inhibitors and methods to reversibly disrupt sperm transport. As Federal Minister Dorothee Bär put it, Germany is seeking “new, modern contraceptives that are safe, have few side effects, and take all genders into account.”
German Members of the European Parliament have been pushing on this for months, too. MEPs Peter Liese and Katarina Barley sent a letter to the European Medicines Agency (EMA) in November of 2025 after the agency pointed to a lack of company interest as the reason no guidance on male contraceptives existed. The two MEPs countered that companies have no reason to invest without guidance to follow in the first place. That same month, a meeting at the European Parliament brought experts and EMA officials together; opening an important dialogue and preparing a path for facilitated developer-regulator engagement.
In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced their new Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for male contraceptive products on September 22, 2026. These TPPs provide a framework for guiding the development of male contraceptive products globally, outlining minimum and preferred product characteristics to “inform product developers, regulatory agencies, procurement agencies, and funders on R&D and public health priorities”.
Taken together, these moments are a powerful signal: Europe is shaping up as a leader in a field that has been neglected for far too long. And when male contraception is named, explicitly, as part of the gender equity conversation rather than separate from it, that’s exactly the shift we’ve been working toward.
It is our hope that this data strengthens that resolve.
European decision makers have also engaged in conversations about how to ensure novel male technologies are developed together, and made available to the men who want them in different regions of the world. Ensuring access to, and the impact of the technologies we fund is very important to us at MCI.
Men from Germany to Bangladesh, from Nigeria to France have spoken, and they want more options for preventing unintended pregnancy.
They want a future where that responsibility is shared rather than falling almost exclusively on women.
After decades of fighting for funding and attention for male contraceptive innovation, we hope this data, paired with the example set by European policy and regulatory leaders, gives investors and donors a clear signal: this is the moment to get involved. To support the advancements of these breakthrough technologies, to get them into the hands of the men, and couples to want them.