It's back: Contraceptive for the 'sponge-worthy'

If you were a fan of the over-the-counter contraceptive that spawned a

Seinfeld

episode about "sponge-worthy" men, you may already know it's back.

Starting today, it's backed by a new advertising campaign, new packaging, and new Web site.

Since January, when Synova Healthcare Group Inc. in Media acquired the Today Sponge, the tiny women's health-care firm has been working to let physicians and others in the health-care community know that the contraceptive is available again.

Beginning this week, Synova is switching gears to focus its marketing effort on consumers - women - who want an alternative to prescribed hormonal contraceptives and nonprescription birth-control products.

Synova says it will spend $5 million to $6 million this year on magazine ads, which began appearing this month in Cosmopolitan and Shape and will run in coming months in Parents, Fitness and Working Mother.

The message of the ads: "Wow! Today Sponge is easy to use, completely hormone free, and works for 24 hours. Enjoy spontaneity, confidence and control."

In 1995, with $25 million in sales and a dozen years on the market, the Today Sponge was withdrawn because of deficiencies at the manufacturing plant. The sponge's safety was never in question, but Wyeth, formerly American Home Products, quit making it rather than upgrade a factory cited by the Food and Drug Administration for various problems.

In 1998, Allendale Pharmaceuticals Inc. bought rights to the Today Sponge. In 2006, the sponge had just under $2 million in sales. This January, Synova Healthcare bought Allendale.

Synova, which is not profitable, reported revenue of $1.8 million in 2006.

Although the sponge has been sold since early 2006 in its original pastel packaging, it has never been promoted.

"The branding really was in need of being contemporized for women today," said Joann Armitage, executive vice president of sales and marketing and one of Synova's 10 employees. "The product itself hasn't changed, and that's really important. The sponge is as innovative today as it was then."

The new fuchsia-and-wine-colored package, which contains three sponges, retails for $7.99 to $9.99. The company said the package features illustrations of two women: one young and health conscious who doesn't want to take hormones, and the other 30-something and newly single who wants an option to her longtime use of the pill.

Between 1983 and 1995, about 250 million sponges were sold, and it was a favorite among some women.

In 1995, the disappearing sponge was depicted on the television comedy Seinfeld, when the character Elaine scoured stores for her favorite birth control and stretched her supply by setting "sponge-worthy" standards for dates.

Synova chief executive officer Stephen King said the company wanted to improve manufacturing capability before marketing to consumers.

"We purposely decided [that], because this product had been away from the market for a decade, to target the health-care community first," said King, who worked on the Today Sponge as a product manager at Wyeth in 1991.

Synova had an exhibit at the three-day American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists meeting in San Diego in May, and talked to physicians about the sponge.

"In the six weeks after the ACOG meeting, unit sales increased up to 17 percent, signaling this product has a very real need and is certainly a meaningful product to women who cannot, or choose not to, use hormonal methods," said King, who worked at Wyeth and GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. before founding Synova in 2003.

Synova also sells over-the-counter diagnostic tests to help women detect vaginal infections and menopause. The company is working on a saliva-based test to predict ovulation, another product to help with symptoms and recovery of hemorrhoids, and a fetal monitor for at-home use by expectant mothers.