By Fiona MacDonald

According to a recent statement from the Parsemus Foundation, a not-for-profit that focusses on developing low-cost medical solutions, a reversible, condomless male birth control option could be available as early as 2017.

The new birth control is known as Vasalgel, and is a non-hormonal polymer that blocks the vas deferens – the tube that’s cut during vasectomies, which transports sperms from the testes out of the penis. And trials in baboons suggest that it’ll be ready to be trialled in humans next year.

Six months ago Vasalgel was injected into three male baboons, who were then given unrestricted sexual access to 10 to 15 fertile female baboons each. Despite frequent mating, none of the female baboons have fallen pregnant, as journalist Samantha Allen reports for The Daily Beast.

The Parsemus Foundation is now going to flush the Vasalgel out of the baboons and test their fertility, to make sure that the procedure is definitely reversible. And another eight baboons are now beginning a new three- or six-month trial after being injected with Vasalgel.