Dive Brief:
- Pfizer has teamed up with several aid groups that focus on global women's health to redesign Depo-Provera, a contraceptive that only has to be administered every three months, to make it easier to use and more accessible to underserved women worldwide.
- The new product is called the Sayana Press—a single-use syringe that is portable and easier to administer than Depo-Provera, which requires intramusuclar administration by a healthcare professional.
- The product will be sold to developing countries at a cost of one dollar per dose, but those costs will be offset by funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Dive Insight:
Because the ability to control one's fertility and access to family planning is a critical health matter for women everywhere, the availability of the Sayana Press will be a boon for women who previously did not have access to birth control.
After funding by various aids groups is factored in, poor women will be able to receive the Sayana Press for free. Not only does the new design make it easier to administer, thereby requiring less training and ramp-up, but it affords women more privacy and control.