Schnückel quickly helped Bimek bring the idea to the public. Philipp Renger, who’s also working on the Bimek SLV project, says that after its unveiling three months ago, German news outlets started covering the device, which led to positive emails from thousands of men willing to take part in clinical trials. Other men who had vasectomies years ago, but who had since met partners who wanted children, told Bimek they would have opted for his device had it existed.
Because of the device’s manufacturing costs, Renger says the switch is probably going to be more expensive than a vasectomy, which can cost as much as $1,000 in the United States. But Bimek believes that this is a cost men will be willing to absorb if it means they can change their minds down the road. Renger says the SLV is definitely a product for people who have a fixed relationship and children, and want a better option than the condom, which isn’t 100 percent effective.