Male birth control maker raises $2.5 million to develop “Plan A”

Zoom in: Plan A is being pitched as a medical device instead of as a drug, which Next Life Sciences CEO L.R. Fox says should reduce the time and expense of clinical trials that begin later this year.

• It's a non-hormonal and reversible contraceptive, which utilizes a common hydrogel to essentially "filter" out sperm for around 10 years.
• Fox adds that patients would receive Plan A via injection — an outpatient procedure that should just last a few minutes — and that he's in talks with "foundations who want to help distribute it broadly."

The big picture: Another company, called Contraline, already is in clinical trials with its own gel-based male contraceptive.

Details: The $2.5 million for NLS is a seed funding round led by The Family, an accelerator founded by Ryan Breslow, with Transform VC also participating.

• The California-based company also is in the midst of raising a larger Series A round.