Amid rising concern over the spread of AIDS throughout Asia, The Female Health Company of Chicago has begun shipping the first of 2.5 million female condoms to Japan through local partner Taiho Pharmaceutical.
The device, which will be marketed in Japan under the name Myfemy, gives Japanese couples another "barrier method" birth control option in a country where roughly 600 million male condoms are purchased annually, most by women.
About 92 percent of couples seeking protection in Japan use male condoms, compared with 17 percent in the United States.