July 21, 2025 • 15 mins
Dr. Darlene Walley has over 20 years of life science business experience, having served as an executive at Procter & Gamble, Gillette, and Arm & Hammer and CEO of early-stage Pharma/Biotech companies. She has raised over $100 million with over $1 billion in successful exits. Darlene is very skilled in the launch of products/companies, raising capital and improving performance. Darlene works with startups, investment firms and serves on the board of directors of several companies. She holds 12 patents, largely dealing with consumer health products and over 15 publications. Take a listen to her take on male birth control.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Doctor Andy Wall Show on KFI
AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. One
of my favorite topics is how to have fabulous sex
and reduce all the risks. You know, I've always said
that sex is a higher risk copy for women than
it is for men. Right because of our unique biology.
We're much more likely to contract an STI, We're much
(00:22):
more likely to fall in love because of all the
oxytocin that happens to a woman's body. But we're also
more likely to catch an eighteen year case of parenthood,
and as a result, unwanted pregnancies are something that is
top of mind to me. Yeah, I also have daughters
in my twenties, so I think about it. So I
was coming across these articles, and I found this article
(00:46):
that actually said we're really close, I mean really close
to having a non hormonal male birth control on the
market soon. So I got on the cranker. No, we
don't have crankers anymore. I got on the email and
I got one of the founders of the company. It's
called plan A, and I'd like to welcome doctor Darlene Wally.
(01:08):
She has over twenty years of life science, business experience.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Get this, you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
She worked it like Procter and Gamble jilted Armin Hammer.
She has raised her she's girl girl boss okay, over
one hundred billion dollars for tech companies and she loves
the startup world. Doctor Darlene Wally, thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you so much, Doctor Wendy, and such a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I have to say, it's nice to have you
in the studio with us so I can pick your brain.
And don't you guys think that when we go to
a break, I'm going to be asking her all kinds
of business questions. But right now, let's talk about male penises,
shall we.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
One hundred and twenty one million unplanned pregnancies take place
every year globally. Eighty percent of men in the US
now finally feel some shared responsibility for pregnancy prevention. Men
are looking for contraceptives. How did this idea of plan
A first come to you?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's a great question. The research behind plan A actually
started many decades ago in India. There was a professor,
doctor Gouha, and he had this idea of male contraception. Unfortunately,
he didn't have the right mechanism or understanding of the
chemical that we do today. So this has been a
lot of research, a lot of activity, and we're so
(02:26):
excited to be able to bring it to market and
hopefully just a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, So let's talk about how plan A works.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's not appeal, it's not appial.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Plan a is an occlusion that goes into the vast
deference of men. So the best deference is a tiny
tube the carry sperm in the man's body. So just
like when you start a vas sectomy procedure, it's very easy.
The vast deference lies right below the surface of this grotum.
It's very easy to isolate it, and then we just
(02:57):
insert our polymer. The polymer turns into a hydrogel and
it blocks sperm, so fluid can go through, but sperm
are just too large. And then the really amazing thing
is when men want to be fertile, all we do
is inject a solution of sodium bicarbonate and that hydrogel
collapses into a water like material, so men can be
(03:19):
fertile and sperm flow freely.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So it's a simple, little injectable block done in a
doctor's office and how long does it last?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It lasts over ten years in the research in India.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Wow, now you've done some research here in North America.
I think in Canada, right, tell me about that research.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, we actually did an exciting clinical trial in Australia
and in Quebec City, Canada. Very exciting because the important
thing with plan A or any product you want to
get into the vast efference. It's so tiny on a
good day, it's the size of spaghetti, but it can
be a lot smaller.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So they can be angel hair spaghetti. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, So the important thing is a doctor can confidently
get our hydrogel inside the vast deference because you don't
want him to damage it. You don't want him going
through it or alongside of it. It would do no good.
So we developed and patented a delivery device, and that's
what the trial was all about, is having doctors tried
that delivery device on men. And we had over twenty doctors,
(04:20):
everyone from a brand new doctor with less than a
year experience to a doctor who had done forty thousand
best ectomies in his career, and they all one hundred
percent successful using our device.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And no pregnancies happened with all these patients.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This wasn't a pregnancy test.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It was just for the delivery, okay, to make sure
it got in there and did the blocking. Right. So
next stage you're in development, right. So next stage is
you're tracking sexually active men to see how many pregnancies happen.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We're actually just starting the actual occlusion trials. So the
next step for us, we're in the clinical trial stage,
is to men who want to try a new contraceptive
and have followed them for several months, and then also
reverse them to make sure that the reversal works successfully
(05:12):
as it has in all of our research. We've done
animal studies, we've done laboratory studies, so we have decades.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So it's not like you're trying it out on the
people first, on the dudes first. Okay, So I'm not
a medical doctor, but for the gentlemen listening out there,
this block goes in, the sperm can't get through. They
still ejaculate, right, they still see something. Just like men
who've had of a sectomy. Yep, where do the sperm go?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So the sperm, just like in a vastectomy, as you said,
the sperm get reabsorbed in the body. The body sees
it as a white blood cell, so that there are
macrophasias who absorb the sperm.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And they're pretty tiny anyway. They're like microscopic, aren't they,
Those little swimmers? Okay, small, it's not like we're talking
about goldfish just being absorbed into your body. You know,
I was talking to my husband this morning about this, Doctor, Darlene.
I know you're a scientists and your business woman, but
you know, everyday people have to imagine this in their lives.
(06:11):
And when I was telling my husband about it, not
that we're worried about pregnancy at our age, he said, oh,
you know, I think that's weird because the sperm, it's
just going to be absorbed into your body. And I
think that's weird. And of course, I said, you know,
plenty of women have absorbed lots of sperm into their
body quite regularly, in all different manners. Okay, it has
(06:32):
been injected in many different ways, and we're all fine, guys,
we're fine. And he's like, I never thought of it
that way. What about side effects? Do we know anything
about side effects?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Right now? We know that our procedure is so much
less invasive. The doctors tell us as we know it.
It's a simple three to five minute procedure on each
vast deference. So, because we're making such a small opening,
just doing an assertion, not cutting, cauterizing all the things
that a pastectomy would have, the downtime should be very minimal,
(07:07):
no side effects.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Okay. When we come back, we want to talk about
when it might get to market, how much it's going
to cost, weather insurance is going to cover it, and
also those obstacles for men psychologically to get around it.
My guest is doctor Darlene Wally. She is one of
the founders of plan A. The website they can go
to is what plana dot com. Plan a dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, plan a for men.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You want to find out more about it, plan a
formen dot com. My guest, doctor Darlene Wally is here
in the studio. She has served as an executive at
Procter and Gamble, Gillette, Arminhammer, and CEO of many early
stage pharma and biotech companies. Right, what is your actual
title at plan A.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I'm the CEO.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Oh, I'm sorry, I'm on girl boss here, I'm a CEO. Okay.
She has raised in her lifetime over one hundred million
dollars with over one hundred billion in du So if
you're listening to this, I'm going to use your language
successful exits. Okay, you're a business guy, you know what
that is. So now she's CEO of a company called
plan A Mail Contraceptive. They make a contraceptive system, and
(08:14):
let's talk about when it could actually be a reality,
when it could be on the market.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We are so excited to get this product on the market.
We can't wait. But we have to go through clinical trials.
We've already met with the FDA. They've approved our clinical
trial program, so we're just following all the steps to
prove the safety and efficacy in large numbers of men.
So right now we're on track for twenty twenty seven
to make our FDA submission and shortly thereafter be on
(08:41):
the market.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah. I'm glad Elon's not around advising them because he
wants men to have more babies anywhere they can.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we're okay with babies. Yeah, we just want them
at the right time.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
At the right time, and with guys who can afford them. Okay,
that's what we need. So you know, there is a
first of all, what costs speaking of babies are but
what could be the cost of Plan A.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So Plan A to start with will be covered under
the Reimbursement Code for vest actomies, and then we will
apply for our own unique code. In my experience, it
takes about eighteen months after your FDA approval, So when
we have our own code, then there'll be nothing out
of pocket for men with insurance. But if you look
at the cost of Plan A, it's about eight dollars
a month, So I don't think you could buy many
(09:24):
condoms for eight dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
A month exactly, and it's probably more reliable. So for
anybody just tuning in Plan A. Mail contraceptive is a
simple injection that blocks sperm. You still ejaculate, but no sperm,
No little swimmers are going to make anybody pregnant are
going to happen, and it's completely reversible with another shot
(09:46):
where it dissolves. It's like a little block, okay, whenever
you're ready. So that's the cool thing about it. Now
you know. One of the things the areas of psychology
I'm most interested in is evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychologists would
say that on an unconscious level, all men want to
constantly reproduce even if they can't afford it, right, and
(10:08):
that we have two different mating systems. One is, you know,
lock yourself down with one woman for a lifetime or
a long time and hope that she'll be a good
mom and take care of any kids that come out
of there, or spread your seed wide and far and
see if that works. Maybe they'll stick in a good
mom somewhere. So how do you get over these ancient
psychological hurdles?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You know, doctor Wendy, you said something really important earlier,
and that is fifty percent of pregnancies in this country
and around the world are unplanned. Unplanned pregnancies lead to
directly to poverty, They lead to mental illness, they lead
to other physical problems for both the mother and the child,
let alone the effect on the rest of the family.
So that's something, you know, we're really interested in. And
(10:53):
the exciting thing is, as you also said, eighty percent
of men in our age group eighteen to forty nine,
something different than condoms, which you wisely said are very ineffective,
or vas ectomies, which are pretty permanent, they're expensive to
get reversed. Only fifty percent chance of reversal. It's a
three hour microsurgery if even possible to reverse. So a
(11:17):
lot of men believe it or not. Thirty percent of
men who make an appointment for a vass sectomy don't
even show up because that's how serious that decision is.
So we want to give men another option. Right now
that eighty percent plus men want another option, and men,
young men today, I'm so inspired when I talk to them.
They really want to participate in family planning. They see
(11:38):
the effect hormonal birth control has on their partner or
their spouse, and they really want to help. There's just
nothing they could do.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
It's interesting that you say that, because I had a
conversation with a kid, a young man who is about
twenty three years old recently, and I was talking about,
you know, my daughters and her peer group and not
wanting to use hormonal birth control, and I'm encouraged them
to get an IUD then to do something to prevent pregnancies,
and he seemed so knowledgeable about women's birth control. I
(12:08):
had this deep conversation with this kid who was like, yeah,
hormonal birth control is so terrible for women and they
shouldn't be using it. So maybe some of these enlightened
young men are going to step up. Have you thought
about your advertising and marketing? How are you going to
reach these guys?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You know, we really have planned consumer advertising, as you said.
And also the medical profession. I've worked on a lot
of breakthroughs in medicine in my career, and usually the
medical profession is very cautious, as they should be. With
this product, doctor Wendy, They the doctors can't wait to
have it in their practice. They see right away, you
(12:46):
know how wonderful it's going to be. The other thing
is doctor's urologists don't usually see men in this eighteen
to forty nine year old group, so this is going
to expand their practice, which you though also like that
side effect as well. So it's just you know, there's
a lot of work that goes into planning on commercializing
a product like this. But believe it or not, we
(13:07):
have over fifty thousand men who have come into our website.
We didn't solicit them because they want to be in
our clinical trials. They want to have plan a we
get myself and the founder, We get personal messages on LinkedIn.
These men just want the product.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
This is amazing, So can men sign up to be
part of a clinical trial.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
They will be able to sign up probably in the
later part of this year and then all of next year.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And so how are you collecting email addresses? They can
go to plan a dot com. Yeah, plan a for men,
plan a formen dot com. Guys, if you care about
us women, if you care about keeping hormonal birth control
away from us, if you care about not having to
spend a whole lot of money on a baby that
you're not ready for, then why don't you just be
brave and join the clinical trial, which, as you said,
(13:55):
has already been tried in India for a decade and
great results with smaller trials in Canada. So we're ready
for a big American trial, I think. So, guys, get around,
get your head around it. It's okay, it's use some
numbing cream, right, Yes, they don't feel anything, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
No, it's just like you can compare to getting your
blood drawn, but imagine getting your blood drawn with a
topical anesthetic.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
They will know nothing but the injections in their genitalia. Right,
it's in the scrotum, it's in the No problem, you guys,
just put a little numbing cream. Look, we get botox.
I don't. I'm not saying I do. But the women
get a little numbing cream. Everything's fine. Last time you
went to the dentist, right, maybe you got a little filling.
They put some numbing cream on your gum before they
(14:42):
went in there, same kind of deal, and then it
wears off and you're fine. So we're going to encourage
young men everywhere to go to plan a for men
dot com and sign up for a clinical trial. I
love talking about groundbreaking science that really can change people's
lives in a big way. Doctor Darlene Wally, thank you
so much for joining us on the Doctor Wendy Wall Show.
(15:04):
And don't worry after the show is over, I'm still
gonna be asking her a lots of questions about how
she raised one hundred million dollars, just saying I'm just
gonna ask these questions. Hey, if you missed any part
of the show, you can always find it on the
iHeartRadio app. Producer Kayla will get it up within a
few minutes. If you want to hear any part of
this show, or last week's show or the week before,
always download the iHeartRadio app search Doctor Wendy Walsh and
(15:27):
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Hit that preset button and you will always get all
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open them. Also, if you miss me, why don't you
log onto my social media. All week, I've been posting
all kinds of fun videos. Love you all, I'm gonna
see you next Sunday. You've been listening to The Doctor,
Wendy Wall Show, and KFI AM six point forty Live
(15:48):
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
Welcome back to the Doctor Andy Wall Show on KFI
AM six forty Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. One
of my favorite topics is how to have fabulous sex
and reduce all the risks. You know, I've always said
that sex is a higher risk copy for women than
it is for men. Right because of our unique biology.
We're much more likely to contract an STI, We're much
(00:22):
more likely to fall in love because of all the
oxytocin that happens to a woman's body. But we're also
more likely to catch an eighteen year case of parenthood,
and as a result, unwanted pregnancies are something that is
top of mind to me. Yeah, I also have daughters
in my twenties, so I think about it. So I
was coming across these articles, and I found this article
(00:46):
that actually said we're really close, I mean really close
to having a non hormonal male birth control on the
market soon. So I got on the cranker. No, we
don't have crankers anymore. I got on the email and
I got one of the founders of the company. It's
called plan A, and I'd like to welcome doctor Darlene Wally.
(01:08):
She has over twenty years of life science, business experience.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Get this, you guys.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
She worked it like Procter and Gamble jilted Armin Hammer.
She has raised her she's girl girl boss okay, over
one hundred billion dollars for tech companies and she loves
the startup world. Doctor Darlene Wally, thanks for being with us.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Thank you so much, Doctor Wendy, and such a pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Well, I have to say, it's nice to have you
in the studio with us so I can pick your brain.
And don't you guys think that when we go to
a break, I'm going to be asking her all kinds
of business questions. But right now, let's talk about male penises,
shall we.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
One hundred and twenty one million unplanned pregnancies take place
every year globally. Eighty percent of men in the US
now finally feel some shared responsibility for pregnancy prevention. Men
are looking for contraceptives. How did this idea of plan
A first come to you?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
That's a great question. The research behind plan A actually
started many decades ago in India. There was a professor,
doctor Gouha, and he had this idea of male contraception. Unfortunately,
he didn't have the right mechanism or understanding of the
chemical that we do today. So this has been a
lot of research, a lot of activity, and we're so
(02:26):
excited to be able to bring it to market and
hopefully just a couple of years.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, So let's talk about how plan A works.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's not appeal, it's not appial.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
What is it?
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Plan a is an occlusion that goes into the vast
deference of men. So the best deference is a tiny
tube the carry sperm in the man's body. So just
like when you start a vas sectomy procedure, it's very easy.
The vast deference lies right below the surface of this grotum.
It's very easy to isolate it, and then we just
(02:57):
insert our polymer. The polymer turns into a hydrogel and
it blocks sperm, so fluid can go through, but sperm
are just too large. And then the really amazing thing
is when men want to be fertile, all we do
is inject a solution of sodium bicarbonate and that hydrogel
collapses into a water like material, so men can be
(03:19):
fertile and sperm flow freely.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
So it's a simple, little injectable block done in a
doctor's office and how long does it last?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
It lasts over ten years in the research in India.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Wow, now you've done some research here in North America.
I think in Canada, right, tell me about that research.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Yeah, we actually did an exciting clinical trial in Australia
and in Quebec City, Canada. Very exciting because the important
thing with plan A or any product you want to
get into the vast efference. It's so tiny on a
good day, it's the size of spaghetti, but it can
be a lot smaller.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So they can be angel hair spaghetti. Right.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, So the important thing is a doctor can confidently
get our hydrogel inside the vast deference because you don't
want him to damage it. You don't want him going
through it or alongside of it. It would do no good.
So we developed and patented a delivery device, and that's
what the trial was all about, is having doctors tried
that delivery device on men. And we had over twenty doctors,
(04:20):
everyone from a brand new doctor with less than a
year experience to a doctor who had done forty thousand
best ectomies in his career, and they all one hundred
percent successful using our device.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
And no pregnancies happened with all these patients.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
This wasn't a pregnancy test.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
It was just for the delivery, okay, to make sure
it got in there and did the blocking. Right. So
next stage you're in development, right. So next stage is
you're tracking sexually active men to see how many pregnancies happen.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
We're actually just starting the actual occlusion trials. So the
next step for us, we're in the clinical trial stage,
is to men who want to try a new contraceptive
and have followed them for several months, and then also
reverse them to make sure that the reversal works successfully
(05:12):
as it has in all of our research. We've done
animal studies, we've done laboratory studies, so we have decades.
Speaker 1 (05:18):
So it's not like you're trying it out on the
people first, on the dudes first. Okay, So I'm not
a medical doctor, but for the gentlemen listening out there,
this block goes in, the sperm can't get through. They
still ejaculate, right, they still see something. Just like men
who've had of a sectomy. Yep, where do the sperm go?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
So the sperm, just like in a vastectomy, as you said,
the sperm get reabsorbed in the body. The body sees
it as a white blood cell, so that there are
macrophasias who absorb the sperm.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
And they're pretty tiny anyway. They're like microscopic, aren't they,
Those little swimmers? Okay, small, it's not like we're talking
about goldfish just being absorbed into your body. You know,
I was talking to my husband this morning about this, Doctor, Darlene.
I know you're a scientists and your business woman, but
you know, everyday people have to imagine this in their lives.
(06:11):
And when I was telling my husband about it, not
that we're worried about pregnancy at our age, he said, oh,
you know, I think that's weird because the sperm, it's
just going to be absorbed into your body. And I
think that's weird. And of course, I said, you know,
plenty of women have absorbed lots of sperm into their
body quite regularly, in all different manners. Okay, it has
(06:32):
been injected in many different ways, and we're all fine, guys,
we're fine. And he's like, I never thought of it
that way. What about side effects? Do we know anything
about side effects?
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Right now? We know that our procedure is so much
less invasive. The doctors tell us as we know it.
It's a simple three to five minute procedure on each
vast deference. So, because we're making such a small opening,
just doing an assertion, not cutting, cauterizing all the things
that a pastectomy would have, the downtime should be very minimal,
(07:07):
no side effects.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
Okay. When we come back, we want to talk about
when it might get to market, how much it's going
to cost, weather insurance is going to cover it, and
also those obstacles for men psychologically to get around it.
My guest is doctor Darlene Wally. She is one of
the founders of plan A. The website they can go
to is what plana dot com. Plan a dot com.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah, yeah, plan a for men.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
You want to find out more about it, plan a
formen dot com. My guest, doctor Darlene Wally is here
in the studio. She has served as an executive at
Procter and Gamble, Gillette, Arminhammer, and CEO of many early
stage pharma and biotech companies. Right, what is your actual
title at plan A.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
I'm the CEO.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Oh, I'm sorry, I'm on girl boss here, I'm a CEO. Okay.
She has raised in her lifetime over one hundred million
dollars with over one hundred billion in du So if
you're listening to this, I'm going to use your language
successful exits. Okay, you're a business guy, you know what
that is. So now she's CEO of a company called
plan A Mail Contraceptive. They make a contraceptive system, and
(08:14):
let's talk about when it could actually be a reality,
when it could be on the market.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We are so excited to get this product on the market.
We can't wait. But we have to go through clinical trials.
We've already met with the FDA. They've approved our clinical
trial program, so we're just following all the steps to
prove the safety and efficacy in large numbers of men.
So right now we're on track for twenty twenty seven
to make our FDA submission and shortly thereafter be on
(08:41):
the market.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah. I'm glad Elon's not around advising them because he
wants men to have more babies anywhere they can.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And we're okay with babies. Yeah, we just want them
at the right time.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
At the right time, and with guys who can afford them. Okay,
that's what we need. So you know, there is a
first of all, what costs speaking of babies are but
what could be the cost of Plan A.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
So Plan A to start with will be covered under
the Reimbursement Code for vest actomies, and then we will
apply for our own unique code. In my experience, it
takes about eighteen months after your FDA approval, So when
we have our own code, then there'll be nothing out
of pocket for men with insurance. But if you look
at the cost of Plan A, it's about eight dollars
a month, So I don't think you could buy many
(09:24):
condoms for eight dollars.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
A month exactly, and it's probably more reliable. So for
anybody just tuning in Plan A. Mail contraceptive is a
simple injection that blocks sperm. You still ejaculate, but no sperm,
No little swimmers are going to make anybody pregnant are
going to happen, and it's completely reversible with another shot
(09:46):
where it dissolves. It's like a little block, okay, whenever
you're ready. So that's the cool thing about it. Now
you know. One of the things the areas of psychology
I'm most interested in is evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychologists would
say that on an unconscious level, all men want to
constantly reproduce even if they can't afford it, right, and
(10:08):
that we have two different mating systems. One is, you know,
lock yourself down with one woman for a lifetime or
a long time and hope that she'll be a good
mom and take care of any kids that come out
of there, or spread your seed wide and far and
see if that works. Maybe they'll stick in a good
mom somewhere. So how do you get over these ancient
psychological hurdles?
Speaker 2 (10:30):
You know, doctor Wendy, you said something really important earlier,
and that is fifty percent of pregnancies in this country
and around the world are unplanned. Unplanned pregnancies lead to
directly to poverty, They lead to mental illness, they lead
to other physical problems for both the mother and the child,
let alone the effect on the rest of the family.
So that's something, you know, we're really interested in. And
(10:53):
the exciting thing is, as you also said, eighty percent
of men in our age group eighteen to forty nine,
something different than condoms, which you wisely said are very ineffective,
or vas ectomies, which are pretty permanent, they're expensive to
get reversed. Only fifty percent chance of reversal. It's a
three hour microsurgery if even possible to reverse. So a
(11:17):
lot of men believe it or not. Thirty percent of
men who make an appointment for a vass sectomy don't
even show up because that's how serious that decision is.
So we want to give men another option. Right now
that eighty percent plus men want another option, and men,
young men today, I'm so inspired when I talk to them.
They really want to participate in family planning. They see
(11:38):
the effect hormonal birth control has on their partner or
their spouse, and they really want to help. There's just
nothing they could do.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
It's interesting that you say that, because I had a
conversation with a kid, a young man who is about
twenty three years old recently, and I was talking about,
you know, my daughters and her peer group and not
wanting to use hormonal birth control, and I'm encouraged them
to get an IUD then to do something to prevent pregnancies,
and he seemed so knowledgeable about women's birth control. I
(12:08):
had this deep conversation with this kid who was like, yeah,
hormonal birth control is so terrible for women and they
shouldn't be using it. So maybe some of these enlightened
young men are going to step up. Have you thought
about your advertising and marketing? How are you going to
reach these guys?
Speaker 2 (12:25):
You know, we really have planned consumer advertising, as you said.
And also the medical profession. I've worked on a lot
of breakthroughs in medicine in my career, and usually the
medical profession is very cautious, as they should be. With
this product, doctor Wendy, They the doctors can't wait to
have it in their practice. They see right away, you
(12:46):
know how wonderful it's going to be. The other thing
is doctor's urologists don't usually see men in this eighteen
to forty nine year old group, so this is going
to expand their practice, which you though also like that
side effect as well. So it's just you know, there's
a lot of work that goes into planning on commercializing
a product like this. But believe it or not, we
(13:07):
have over fifty thousand men who have come into our website.
We didn't solicit them because they want to be in
our clinical trials. They want to have plan a we
get myself and the founder, We get personal messages on LinkedIn.
These men just want the product.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
This is amazing, So can men sign up to be
part of a clinical trial.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
They will be able to sign up probably in the
later part of this year and then all of next year.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
And so how are you collecting email addresses? They can
go to plan a dot com. Yeah, plan a for men,
plan a formen dot com. Guys, if you care about
us women, if you care about keeping hormonal birth control
away from us, if you care about not having to
spend a whole lot of money on a baby that
you're not ready for, then why don't you just be
brave and join the clinical trial, which, as you said,
(13:55):
has already been tried in India for a decade and
great results with smaller trials in Canada. So we're ready
for a big American trial, I think. So, guys, get around,
get your head around it. It's okay, it's use some
numbing cream, right, Yes, they don't feel anything, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
No, it's just like you can compare to getting your
blood drawn, but imagine getting your blood drawn with a
topical anesthetic.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
They will know nothing but the injections in their genitalia. Right,
it's in the scrotum, it's in the No problem, you guys,
just put a little numbing cream. Look, we get botox.
I don't. I'm not saying I do. But the women
get a little numbing cream. Everything's fine. Last time you
went to the dentist, right, maybe you got a little filling.
They put some numbing cream on your gum before they
(14:42):
went in there, same kind of deal, and then it
wears off and you're fine. So we're going to encourage
young men everywhere to go to plan a for men
dot com and sign up for a clinical trial. I
love talking about groundbreaking science that really can change people's
lives in a big way. Doctor Darlene Wally, thank you
so much for joining us on the Doctor Wendy Wall Show.
(15:04):
And don't worry after the show is over, I'm still
gonna be asking her a lots of questions about how
she raised one hundred million dollars, just saying I'm just
gonna ask these questions. Hey, if you missed any part
of the show, you can always find it on the
iHeartRadio app. Producer Kayla will get it up within a
few minutes. If you want to hear any part of
this show, or last week's show or the week before,
always download the iHeartRadio app search Doctor Wendy Walsh and
(15:27):
then there's this little button right above that says preset.
Hit that preset button and you will always get all
the shows right there in the app every time you
open them. Also, if you miss me, why don't you
log onto my social media. All week, I've been posting
all kinds of fun videos. Love you all, I'm gonna
see you next Sunday. You've been listening to The Doctor,
Wendy Wall Show, and KFI AM six point forty Live
(15:48):
everywhere on the iHeartRadio app.
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