One way to achieve affordability of contraceptive products is to introduce price competition into the marketplace. To that end, Mithra Pharmaceuticals announced on January 24, 2017 its intention to submit Myring, a combined hormonal contraceptive vaginal ring, for marketing approval in both Europe and the United States in early 2017.
This announcement comes after the company successfully completed bioequivalence studies vis à vis the reference product, the NuvaRing® vaginal contraceptive ring. Marketed by Merck (MSD), the NuvaRing® remains under patent protection until April 2018.
As designed, MyRing slowly releases contraceptive hormones (etonogestrel and ethinyl estradiol) over a 3-week period. A woman using the product would then remove it for a one-week break before inserting a new ring for another round of protection from pregnancy.