Top condom maker Okamoto Industries Inc. announced Wednesday it will start selling the country's first spermicide-coated condom Feb. 1, hoping to stimulate the flagging domestic prophylactics market.
The condom maker, which has more than half the domestic market share, said it plans a marketing blitz to promote the new product, including in-store videos showing sperm being killed by the chemical used for the condom.
"Coating the inside of the condom with spermicide will further ensure that pregnancy doesn't happen," Okamoto Managing Director Atsushi Okubo told a news conference.
According to the company, spermicide-coated condoms are quite common overseas, accounting for some 30 percent of total sales in the U.S., for instance.
But the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry was cautious about granting regulatory approval for such a product, and Okamoto, which had been developing the spermicide-condom since 1989, had to wait three years to gain approval.
Company officials blamed the bureaucratic reluctance on the lack of a precedent. They also said some spermicides used overseas have been found to contain endocrine disrupters.
The firm claims that its condom's spermicide, developed by drug maker Eisai Co., is safe.
The company said it plans first-year sales of 1.2 million boxes, a level considered a big hit in the industry. A box of 12 is priced at 2,100 yen.
The new product comes as the country's condom makers are trying to give the declining market a shot in the arm. Domestic condom shipments, 4.1 million gross in 1995, has fallen to a little more than 3 million gross in recent years. A gross is 144 units.
Meanwhile, sexually transmitted diseases among youth have become a serious social concern.
And while the number of abortions has been on the decline in recent years, the health ministry said that 34,745 teenagers received abortions in fiscal 2004, accounting for 11.5 percent of the total.
