The Parsemus Foundation is an American

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

whose objective is to advance low-cost evidence-based medicines not pursued by the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry discovers, develops, produces, and markets drugs or pharmaceutical drugs for use as medications to be administered to patients (or self-administered), with the aim to cure them, vaccinate them, or alleviate symptoms. ...

. The foundation's focus is on supporting small

proof-of-concept Proof of concept (POC or PoC), also known as proof of principle, is a realization of a certain method or idea in order to demonstrate its feasibility, or a demonstration in principle with the aim of verifying that some concept or theory has prac ...

studies and then pursuing press coverage of the results, so that the advances change treatment practice rather than disappearing into the scientific literature. Many of the studies supported involve low-cost approaches that are not under

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

Background

Founded in 2005, Parsemus is an advocate of research into the plausibility of RISUG (and a method based on RISUG, called Vasalgel), a reversible

male contraceptive Male contraceptives, also known as male birth control, are methods of preventing pregnancy that solely involve the male physiology. The most common kinds of male contraception include condoms, outercourse, and vasectomy. In domestic animals, ca ...

. The foundation began procuring RISUG's United States

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

rights in November 2010, completed the acquisition process in February 2012, and is for the past 8 years conducting toxicology tests as an initial step towards

Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...

approval. Vasgel production has continually been delayed. Human trials for Vasgel were approved and planned for 2015–2016 with missed market release in 2017. The foundation has also engaged in

animal testing Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and ''in vivo'' testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments that seek to control the variables that affect the behavior or biological system under study. This ...

and aims to prioritize animal welfare. The organization offers resources on alternative methods of fertility control ( neutering) for dogs and cats. Its focus has been on ovary-sparing spay for female dogs and cats, vasectomy for male dogs and cats, and non-surgical sterilization using calcium chloride-based formulations for male dogs and cats. As of 2017, reversibility has been unsuccessful in animal trials in the United States. The foundation was also noted for its support of the ''

Archives of Internal Medicine ''JAMA Internal Medicine'' is a monthly peer-reviewed medical journal published by the American Medical Association. It was established in 1908 as the ''Archives of Internal Medicine'' and obtained its current title in 2013. It covers all aspects ...

s ''less-is-more'' series. Parsemus Foundation has not managed to bring RISUG to mass use.

References

External links

Official site
Medical and health foundations in the United States Men's health organizations {{Nonprofit-org-stub