Male Contraceptive Initiative’s 2020 Annual Report
Moving Forward Together
"Moving Forward Together"
The year 2020 was unique in myriad ways, and the challenges it brought were unprecedented. We choose to focus on identifying opportunities among these challenges. As we thought about the adaptable, indomitable nature of the human spirit in near daily stories of compassion, empathy, and collaboration throughout all of 2020, we felt a natural theme emerge in “moving forward together”.
Here are some of the ways we were able to accomplish that:
We expanded our funding portfolio to include Program Related Investments that will help bring great science closer to market while providing potential returns that can support the research and development of male methods of contraception.
We launched “Intended”, the first podcast focused exclusively on male contraception. The show allows us to access new audiences while highlighting and featuring people at the forefront of male contraception research and development.
We refined our vision and mission to better articulate our impact and the hopeful future: reproductive autonomy for all.
We continued advocating for the collaborative concept “Team Science” by launching a monthly webinar series called “The Lemonade Stand” to explore aspects of male contraception, working with funding partners to make the contraceptive special issue of Biology of Reproduction freely available to all readers, and publishing an article advocating for a team-based, human-centered approach to developing male contraceptives.
We overhauled our website with an intentional focus on expanding the educational resources we provide. We are ever mindful of the need for updated information and seek to provide such in new and different ways so that we can continue being a hub for all things male contraception.
We often reflect on the close-knit, collaborative nature of those working in the field of male contraception. This became even more apparent this past year as we leaned on each other for support as we collectively worked to advance the field. The following sections provide granularity into the activities that helped define an unforgettable year spent moving forward together.
Male Contraceptive Initiative's Executive Director Heather Vahdat's Annual Letter
Dear All,
What is there to say about 2020 that we haven’t already thought or heard? What a year. As is often the case in challenging times, we find ourselves reflecting on the positive moments and opportunities that managed to grow from the unique circumstances that we faced. The great equalizer that is Zoom managed to somehow bring us closer to our colleagues despite our physical distance as we navigated shared fear, worry, and grief for friends and loved ones who were impacted by COVID-19, barking pets, family-friendly conference calls, doubling as an at-home teacher for their children, and, of course, the cursed, ubiquitous mute button.
However, the circumstances of 2020 also allowed us to connect with a vulnerability that the traditional office setting often masks. The disruption of our daily norms offered time to connect in new ways and explore ideas that may have otherwise never materialized, resulting in a reaffirmation of our bonds to each other as humans and to the mission of our efforts. For our team, the hallmark of this process was working in concert with our Board of Directors to refine our vision, mission and principles, with a resulting rallying cry “Reproductive Autonomy for All”. In these four words, we were able to acknowledge our vision as an organization as we work to understand the true depth and breadth of potential for non-hormonal methods of contraception for people who produce sperm.
Thanks to the extraordinary dedication of our grantees and others working in the field, the science of male contraception continued to advance in 2020, as did efforts to support “Team Science” and community engagement.
Additional details about our accomplishments for the year are provided herein. I hope that you will enjoy reading through the report and, as always, we encourage you to reach out with any questions or thoughts you may have. Thank you for your continued support of Male Contraceptive Initiative, and interest in new methods of non-hormonal, reversible male birth control. We simply would not be able to accomplish all that we do each year without your generosity.
Warm regards,
Heather Vahdat, MPH
Executive Director
“We want to help develop amazing products for men and their partners, but we also want to start out with a goal of establishing a path to market that results in fair pricing for everyone and a better understanding of the impact that an expanded method mix can have. That’s what we’re really talking about here: expanding the overall contraceptive method mix, and making more options available for everyone.”
– Heather Vahdat, MPH, Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Executive Director
I. Organizational Overview
Male Contraceptive Initiative’s mission is to empower men, and couples, to fully contribute to family planning goals by providing them the resources they need for reproductive autonomy.
Currently, there are only two male contraceptives on the market: condoms and vasectomy.
The lack of male options both prevents men from meaningfully participating in family planning and puts an undue burden on women to bear the responsibility of contracepting in order to avoid a pregnancy. We can and must do better.
Male Contraceptive Initiative (MCI) was founded in 2014 in Durham, North Carolina to meaningfully address the lack of contraceptive options for men. We are a global hub for researchers, philanthropists, and advocates in search of ways to advance the development of novel safe, non‑hormonal, reversible male contraceptives. We believe that doing so empowers men, women, and couples to better manage their family planning objectives and help reduce the 120+ million unintended pregnancies that occur each year throughout the world.
MCI is working diligently to reimagine and bring an empowered, inclusive, choice‑maximized world of contraception to people globally. Our work will make the world a better place by transforming the contraceptive landscape to enable betterment and self‑determination for all people.
Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Vision Statement
Our work is divided amongst two distinct work streams that support each other:
FUNDING
We provide financial support to the male contraception research and development community through investments, grants, professional development opportunities, and more.
ADVOCACY
We support the research community and male contraceptive advocates through outreach efforts that educate the general public and promote the research work being done to make new male contraceptive products a reality.
We believe that developing new methods of non-hormonal, reversible male contraception will reduce instances of unintended pregnancy, increase contraceptive acceptability, expand contraceptive prevalence rates, and decrease instances of unmet need with respect to family planning products. Our theory of change is that we can achieve reproductive autonomy for all with increased male birth control methods:
Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Theory of Change
“These methods can give men a real vested interest in something that’s really important: the choice of if and when to have children. And that starts a conversation that I think pays dividends as time goes on.”
– Logan Nickels, PhD, Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Research Director
II. Highlights from 2020
At Male Contraceptive Initiative we view every challenge as an opportunity and, despite all that 2020 threw our way, this year proved to be one of our most productive and impactful years yet.
We share some of the best moments from our 2020 in the infographic below, and map each of these accomplishments to our organizational principles to illustrate how they align with our vision and mission.
MCI’s 2020 Highlights
“People’s needs evolve over time, generally, but especially with respect to contraception. A preferred method at 18 is highly unlikely to be the preferred method at 35. Women have to navigate this journey without the option of simply choosing ‘none’ and allowing their partner to shoulder the responsibility. That adds imbalance and inequity in a relationship and it can be addressed if people advocate for and demand new male methods.”
– Kevin Shane, Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Marketing & Communications Director
III. Funding
Our investment strategy is focused on maximizing impact while accelerating the research and development timelines for new male contraceptives.
We commit as much of our funding as possible towards programs and activities that facilitate research and development of new male contraceptive products and to support professional development of the next generation of researchers and advocates. This strategy positions Male Contraceptive Initiative to achieve impact in both the short-term and long-term.
The graphic below provides detail into how we utilized our 2020 funding to advance the male contraception field:
Male Contraceptive Initiative’s 2020 Funding Activities
“I wish the public knew that people want male contraception. I think the knee-jerk reaction is often ‘men won’t use it’ or ‘women won’t trust men’, but we know that’s not actually true. I think we should definitely have conversations about trust and what methods work for whom, but when it comes down to it, if male contraception doesn’t work for your relationship, you don’t have to use it! It allows more options for people who need them.”
– Kathryn Carpenter, MPH, Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Advocacy Strategist
IV. Research
Grantees & Investment Partners
Our diverse mix of investments include grants structured to move contraceptive projects further down the pathway, Program Related Investments that promote promising technologies, and support for young professionals working in the male contraceptive space.
Our funding strategy presents a holistic opportunity for support across every step of the product development pathway, and our grants are designed for impact, working across disciplines, institutions, and borders. We also make key investments in discrete activities related to male contraceptive development, attitudes, and social determinants in order to illustrate the demand for and impact of new methods of male contraception.
Meet the Grantees that received support from Male Contraceptive Initiative in 2020:
MCI is supporting Robert’s lab and their project focusing on using video capture and artificial intelligence to assess the efficacy of a short-acting male contraceptive.
With MCI’s support, Gunda’s lab is investigating the sperm-specific isoform of Na,K-ATPase, which is crucial for sperm motility.
MCI’s funding will help Contraline initiate a clinical trial in Australia to evaluate their medical device ADAM™, a reversible, non-hormonal contraceptive option, in men.
MCI’s grants support IND-enabling milestones that are required for Eppin Pharma to reach its goal of submitting an IND application to the FDA and entering first-in-man studies of their male contraceptive candidate, EP055.
MCI is supporting the Buffone lab and their project seeking to use novel high-throughput methods to screen drugs with the capacity to block CatSper.
MCI is supporting Planned Parenthood North Central States and their efforts in understanding the values and preferences of potential male contraceptive users and their partners.
MCI is supporting Dr. Visconti and his lab to further characterizing the TSSKs models, and to continue the search for TSSKs specific inhibitors.
Fellows
Trainee support provided to undergraduate and graduate students is another key component of our research funding strategy. Providing the financial and human resource support these students need in order to investigate promising leads both ensures that a potential target is vetted and that male contraception is viewed as a viable career path for a young investigator.
Through these efforts, we provide support from the classroom to the boardroom, meaningfully contributing to keeping talented researchers interested in the male contraception field working towards realizing the next generation of male contraceptive methods.
Meet the Fellows that joined the Male Contraceptive Initiative family in 2020:
Saman Nayyab
Saman is a Postdoctoral Fellow and PhD candidate at University of Massachusetts Amherst in Dr. Pablo Visconti’s lab studying the role of testis specific serine kinases (TSSKs) on male fertility.
Oleksandr Kirsanov
Oleksandr is a Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in the Geyer laboratory at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University working on defining the mechanisms underlying spermatogonial differentiation and meiotic initiation.
Md Abdullah Al Noman
Noman is a Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in the Georg group at the University of Minnesota and his research goal is to develop RARɑ antagonists as male contraceptive agents.
Saman Nayyab
Saman is a Postdoctoral Fellow and PhD candidate at University of Massachusetts Amherst in Dr. Pablo Visconti’s lab studying the role of testis specific serine kinases (TSSKs) on male fertility.
Oleksandr Kirsanov
Oleksandr is a Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in the Geyer laboratory at the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University working on defining the mechanisms underlying spermatogonial differentiation and meiotic initiation.
Md Abdullah Al Noman
Noman is a Graduate Fellow and PhD candidate in the Georg group at the University of Minnesota and his research goal is to develop RARɑ antagonists as male contraceptive agents.
“I think men will feel good that somebody is taking time to care for the specific needs that they may not have known they had with regards to contraceptive use, and I feel that women will enjoy being able to rely on their partners to contracept. Both men and women have a lot to gain with the implementation of new male contraceptive methods.”
– Jaylan Weaver, Male Contraceptive Initiative’s Program Coordinator
V. Advocacy
Educating the general public about male contraception is a vital part of our work. By providing educational resources we can empower people to be advocates for the field and counter some of the misleading, and at-times factually inaccurate notions that persist.
We view Male Contraceptive Initiative as a platform for collaboration and knowledge-sharing; a one-stop shop for all information related to non-hormonal, reversible male contraception.
In 2020, this manifested in multiple ways, including:
- Refining our vision and mission to reflect our objective of empowering all people through contraceptive technologies
- Producing Intended: the first podcast focused entirely on male contraception
- Launching a monthly webinar series exploring all aspects of male contraception
- Overhauling our website to greatly expand the resources necessary to engage with the field
“With so many advances in science since [our college days], it’s hard to believe that the choices for men remain the same today as they were fifty years ago: abstinence, withdrawal, condoms or vasectomy. We join MCI in envisioning a future where non-hormonal and reversible birth control options will exist that empower men to make informed choices about family planning..”
– Marjorie and James Rodman, Cary NC, MCI Donors
VI. Donor Highlight
Male birth control is an under-funded and under-researched area of scientific enquiry that has incredible potential. Male Contraceptive Initiative’s strategy is to support the male contraception research community throughout every step of their professional development and careers as they work towards bringing new male contraceptives to market. As a nonprofit, we rely solely on donations to achieve the impact needed to bring new male methods to market, and are extremely grateful for every dollar we receive.
Meet the male birth control advocates that supported Male Contraceptive Initiative in 2020:
Hall of Fame ($100,000 and up)
Anonymous
VIPs ($1,000 to $100,000)
Scott Ellis
Jonathan Shakes
Martin Mackerel
Core Supporters ($100 to $1,000)
Connie Moreadith
Wade Gobel
Beverly Tucker
Matthew Mower
Mark Barone
Heather Vahdat
Anonymous
Donald A Collins
David Sokal
Kevin Eisenfrats
Robert Gabel
Marjorie Rodman
Diane Sokal
Bahareh Negahban
Susan Kahn
Contributors ($1 to $100)
Jennifer Ayres
Ryan Ferguson
Caleb Belleveau
Brenda Gruss
Nancy Wallace
Anonymous
Nicholas Fanion
Janice Smith
Pelle Nelissen
Rebecca Callahan
Anonymous
Jeffrey Akins
Kate Arthur
Tim Newman
George Gluck
Luke Nastuny
VII. MCI Staff & Board
Male Contraceptive Initiative’s staff is composed of a dedicated group of individuals with varied and diverse expertise. We are committed to providing the support that the male contraceptive research community needs in order to bring new methods of male contraception to market, as well as the resources necessary to educate the general public and empower advocates to champion the cause of “Reproductive Autonomy for All”.
“A community that is engaged and working together can be a powerful force.”
– Idowu Koyenikan
Contact
We would love to hear from you! We understand that our collective impact will always be far greater than our individual one. Please reach out to us and let’s discuss how we can move the field of male contraception forward together.
811 Ninth Street, Suite 120 #255, Durham, NC 27705
+1 (984) 464-2951
contact@malecontraceptive.org