Word: vorhauer
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Invented by Bruce Vorhauer, 41, a biomedical engineer, the new product is a soft polyurethane sponge 5.5 cm wide and 2 cm thick, permeated with a common spermicide, nonoxynol 9, that has been on the market for 20 years. The product combines the barrier aspects of the diaphragm with the principal advantages of the less effective male condom. In tests, the sponge has proved to be as effective as the diaphragm: studies for one year of thousands of women, some of whom may not have used contraception diligently or properly, have shown that both methods prevent pregnancy...
...cervix. Unlike the diaphragm, the device-called Today-stays effective for 24 hours (hence the name) regardless of how many times the user has intercourse, and there is said to be nothing messy or awkward about it. A small polyester loop attached to the sponge makes removal easy. Vorhauer, the president of V.L.I., expects to start selling the contraceptives this fall, at about $1 apiece...
...Vorhauer got the idea for the sponge in 1975, when he was an executive with Chicago-based American Hospital Supply Corp. The notion actually dates back more than 3,000 years to the Egyptians, who used sea sponges soaked in citrus juices, which are slightly spermicidal, as contraceptives. When American Hospital showed little interest in Vorhauer's idea, he resigned and set up a tiny office in Newport Beach, Calif. Says he: "My kitchen was my first...
Start-up funding of $400,000 from a friend enabled Vorhauer to begin clinical testing in Mexico City in 1977. But when the money ran out, Vorhauer was hard-pressed to keep his company afloat. He recalls one point when he had just $3.50 in the bank. During his seven-year wait for FDA approval, he was inspired by the inscription on a statue of Buddha that stands on his desk: "Those who cannot wait never...
...angel appeared. In 1980 a local gynecologist persuaded several fellow doctors to pitch in $500,000. Since then, a $5 million infusion by a group of investors, including Golder Thoma & Co., a Chicago venture-capital firm, and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette's aptly named Sprout Investment Group, has enabled Vorhauer to hire 40 employees. V.L.I. will soon move into a 50,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in nearby Irvine. Vorhauer expects to hire 80 more workers by year's end as production gears up. The United Kingdom and four other countries have already approved Today for sale, though...
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