The Today Sponge is Coming Back!

The Today® Sponge to be available for sale in the US by the Fall of 1999.

The Sponge, the most popular over-the-counter contraceptive in 1995 when it was taken off the market, will return under a different manufacturer. Allendale Pharmaceuticals Inc., a newly formed New Jersey pharmaceutical company, made the announcement on March 11, 1999. Allendale representatives said they hoped to make some 25 million of the sponges per year, saying there were more than 20 million sponges sold per year before 1995. The Today® sponges once represented 35 percent of the women's over-the-counter contraceptive market in the United States, Allendale said.

Allendale Pharmaceuticals Inc. chief executive Gene Detroyer, stated in an announcement that his company had purchased the product from the previous company that made the Sponge. The Food and Drug Administration said the Sponge never had a safety problem. The manufacturer, Whitehall-Robins Healthcare, pulled the sponge from the market because it would have cost them too much to upgrade the factory to meet stringent government safety rules. Even though women sent up an immediate vocal and letter-writing campaign, the plea fell on deaf ears. This is despite the fact that the company made as much as $17 million per year on the sales. No other manufacturer produced a contraceptive sponge in the US.

Women in other countries have been able to find them because they are manufactured elsewhere. One brand is Protectaid®, manufactured by Axcan Pharma in Canada. The Protectaid® Sponge is sold on-line.

Return to
Additional Information Page

OR Return to the Contraceptive Guide Main Menu,
Click the Button and this Window Will Close
Visit Other Areas of this Site by Clicking the Icons


Women's Health Index	Physician Page	Pregnancy Childbirth	Spirituality	Published Articles	Home Page	Site Index