The Parsemus Foundation is an American
non-governmental organization whose objective is to advance low-cost
evidence-based medicine
Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is "the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients". The aim of EBM is to integrate the experience of the clinician, the values of t ...
s not pursued by the
pharmaceutical industry.
The foundation's focus is on supporting small
proof-of-concept studies and then pursuing press coverage of the results, so that the advances change treatment practice rather than disappearing into the scientific literature. Many of the studies supported involve low-cost approaches that are not under
patent.
Background
Founded in 2005, Parsemus is an advocate of research into the plausibility of
RISUG (and a method based on RISUG, called Vasalgel), a reversible
male contraceptive.
The foundation began procuring RISUG's United States
intellectual property rights in November 2010, completed the acquisition process in February 2012, and is for the past 8 years conducting
toxicology tests
Toxicology is a scientific discipline, overlapping with biology, chemistry, pharmacology, and medicine, that involves the study of the adverse effects of chemical substances on living organisms and the practice of diagnosing and treating expos ...
as an initial step towards
Food and Drug Administration approval.
Vasgel production has continually been delayed. Human trials for Vasgel were approved and planned for 2015–2016 with missed market release in 2017.
The foundation has also engaged in
animal testing and aims to prioritize
animal welfare
Animal welfare is the well-being of non-human animals. Formal standards of animal welfare vary between contexts, but are debated mostly by animal welfare groups, legislators, and academics. Animal welfare science uses measures such as longevity ...
.
The organization offers resources on alternative methods of fertility control (
neutering
Neutering, from the Latin ''neuter'' ('of neither sex'), is the removal of an animal's reproductive organ, either all of it or a considerably large part. The male-specific term is castration, while spaying is usually reserved for female animals. ...
) for dogs and cats. Its focus has been on ovary-sparing spay for female dogs and cats, vasectomy for male dogs and cats, and non-surgical sterilization using calcium chloride-based formulations for male dogs and cats.
As of 2017, reversibility has been unsuccessful in animal trials in the United States.
The foundation was also noted for its support of the ''
Archives of Internal Medicines ''less-is-more'' series.
Parsemus Foundation has not managed to bring RISUG to mass use.
References
External links
Official site
Medical and health foundations in the United States
Men's health organizations
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