The market
The global contraceptive market was estimated in 2010 at $ 15.5 billion and is expected to reach $ 19.2 billion in 2017. The market is increasingly attractive for pharmaceutical companies wishing to return to this market because demand In recent decades has proven to be insensitive to economic slowdown. More than half of couples aged 15 to 49 in Europe, Russia, Australia, Latin America and North America use contraceptive methods. Use increases more than 70 % in the European Union, with the exception of Spain. In 2010, the global condom market was worth $ 4.2 billion. In developing countries, sterilization is, with 17 %, the most widespread contraceptive method. In this geographic area, only 7 % of couples use oral contraception, 5 % use intrauterine devices (IUD) and only 4 % use condoms. Only 260 million women in the Third World have access to contraception. About 215 million women are looking for a way of contraception but do not have access to it. These data confirm the market expansion potential if these products were easily available.
Around the world, oral contraceptives represent with 78 % of the largest market, with growth of at least 3 % per year. Barrier contraceptives (IUD, vaginal rings and condoms) control a much lower share but increases at a much higher rate, reaching 8.5 % per year over the next five years. A million is estimated that the number of additional women who, every three years, need birth control funded by public funds, which stimulates institutional demand within the OECD. Some pharmaceutical companies dominate the market, such as Bayer Schering Pharma (Germany), Pfizer and Merck (USA), Ansell Ltd. (Australia), Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Belgium) and Teva Pharmaceuticals (Israel). Durex is the world leader in the condom market with 35 % market share of brand products. With an expansion rate made up of more than 6 %, the Asian condom market is the fastest in the world.
Non -profit organizations such as DKT International (USA) engage in social marketing - the use of modern marketing techniques to reach social good and not only to make a profit - to sell more than 650 million in 2011 condoms, and to provide 72 million oral contraceptives, or around 24.5 million couples. Around the world, this innovative form of marketing to reach couples already provides 2.4 billion condoms each year and 162 million oral contraceptive pills. As the products are sold, they are probably used, which makes the family planning services profitable and less dependent on the abortion that exposes women to a high risk.
Innovation
The contraceptive product portfolio faces many challenges. Surgical interventions are irreversible and therefore less popular. The consumption of long -term conservation synthesis hormones leads more and more difficulties for purification stations which, even equipped with high -end inverse osmosis, are not able to eliminate all chemical components of the plans water, which can cause hormonal disturbances in humans (and aquatic life) downstream if wastewater is recycled for human or agricultural consumption. The condoms use an uncludable plastic that can obstruct toilets and sewer systems if they are not properly eliminated, and reduce erection strength in a fifth of healthy men. Cost is also a major concern. Innovative mechanical devices such as the Sino-implant, the Silcs diaphragm, the long-term contraceptive vaginal ring operating for 12 months instead of a cost price for the buyer and the need for a External help to use the devices. There are other problems to be resolved, such as the removal of devices and responsible elimination at the end of use.
Jorge Reynolds was the pioneer of the design of the cardiac stimulator in the 1950s and, since the 1990s, has been devoted to the design of an electrocardiogram (ECG) without batteries (see case 4). Dr. Reynolds carefully studied a wide range of "battery-free concept" applications and realized that the main innovative application may be the design of an integrated, communicating and treatment system that would allow Women to control their fertility cycles. The body temperature of a woman is usually 36.5 to 36.8 degrees, although the exact value can vary from person to person. During ovulation, the progesterone hormone causes a slight increase in temperature of 0.1 or 0.2 degrees. Although a tenth of degree may not seem significant, one could trace the body temperature every day for several menstrual cycles and a tendency to take shape over time.
Dr. Reynolds has designed a special sensor the size of a rice grain which can be fixed to the underwear using a velcro strip. The sensor can measure the temperature very precisely, day and night, and is able to transfer this data to a mobile phone located near the person. The sensor operates without battery and is able to transform the radio frequency of the nearby mobile phones (s) into an energy source powerful enough to measure the body temperature and simultaneously send data to the phone through a dedicated application that includes a Special telephone message (SMS, ringtone or vibration) indicating that according to readings of all data in real time, and controlled by historical recordings, the chance to design is high.
The first cash flow
There are many family planning applications for smartphones on the market. However, none of them is connected to a battery -free sensor which is equipped with communication capacities. Existing applications offer a fertility table that is only used for recreational purposes, compiling historical data and personal observations. There are more than a dozen available applications, including: female calendar ($ 9.99), ICHARTME ($ 2.99), Meftil ($ 4.99), FEMICYCLE ($ 2.99), Iovulation ($ 0.99) and NFP Manager (free) providing all basic information in a pleasant visual way. If these applications could combine the exclusive conceptions of sensors, antennas and data processing with detailed intelligent information processing by Dr. Jorge Reynolds, then the body temperature model could be converted into a tool for birth control . In fact, the current design of the antenna could benefit from the innovations offered by Johan Gielis (Case 91) on the basis of his superformula.
The opportunity
Eleven billion cell phones have been sold since this communication device was introduced for the first time in 1994. In the last 18 months, a billion more was added. Nokia alone sold 3.4 billion units. Five billion units have been thrown over the years, while 6 billion has been used, including a billion in China and another billion in India. In many regions, the cell phone penetration rate exceeds 100 %, which means that a considerable number of people use more than one phone. Almost half of the phones worldwide are used in the Asia-Pacific region, and telephone penetration in countries like South Africa is already 100 %. Africa and Asia have great interest and a great need for family planning. The cost of the sensor is low and will decrease as the volume increases. This could become the cheapest family planning device ever imagined. This minute sensor which is easily available on the market will be available on the market in a few months. Prototypes produced in Bogotá (Colombia) indicate a price less than $ 10 per unit.
The substitution of chemistry (synthetic hormones) and mechanics (based on precious and rare metals or polymers) by sensors and software that is based on physics and mathematics, is an example of innovation in the economy Blue. While replacing a battery with a system without battery such as the electrocardiogram associated with the mobile phone would be a big step forward, the introduction of new devices, in particular sensors which are essential to improve the health and safety of Our daily life that will never need a battery will make our societies more sustainable, will improve quality and guarantee that we reduce our costs and our dependence on extracted materials. At an annual cost lower than that of existing family planning systems, this would also make it cheap and within the limits of the economic means of millions of people who cannot be reached by any media, not even social media, but which have access to a mobile phone.
