FDA finally approves condoms for anal after years of campaigning from sexual health professionals

• On Wednesday, for the first time ever, the FDA approved a condom specifically for anal sex.
• Medication that prevents HIV exists, but not everyone at risk uses it. Condoms can bridge that gap, experts say.

In an historic move, the US Food and Drug Administration approved a condom specifically for anal sex for the first time on Wednesday.

In a clinical trial, researchers tested a natural rubber latex condom, the One Male Condom from Global Protection. They found it had a 0.68% failure rate — defined as slippage or breakage — during anal intercourse, leading the FDA to authorize, for the first time ever, a condom for anal sex.

Sexual health experts have long championed an approval like this, saying it will protect against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Since the FDA approved the HIV prevention medication PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) in 2012, the number of people using condoms during anal sex has declined, according to data from the CDC.

Due in large part to cost and access issues, however, only 1 in 3 men at high risk for HIV use PrEP.

Anal-specific condoms can close that gap, Dr. Kenneth Mayer, the medical research director for Fenway Health and a doctor to LGBTQ patients, told the New York Times.

"That's hundreds of thousands of people," Mayer told the Times. "And certainly those are individuals who would benefit from condoms."

Mayer said he thinks the approval will push other condom brands to seek FDA approval for anal sex.

"It's definitely not a one-size-fits-all kind of kind of environment," Mayer told the Times. "It will help normalize the conversation because there'll be an economic incentive for the companies to advertise condoms for anal sex."