FDA approves innovative, new ‘spiral’ tampon shape

It’s not your mom’s tampon.

That’s the promise made by San-Francisco-based startup Sequel, whose spiral tampon design was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration this month.

Since the tampon was invented to absorb menstrual flow in 1931, its design has remained largely the same.

That is until four years ago when Stanford classmates and Sequel co-founders Greta Meyer and Amanda Calabrese presented their new spiral tampon — featuring diagonal grooves — as a class project.

After receiving $5 million in funding and FDA approval, Meyer and Calabrese are ready to market Sequel as an “elevated product experience” for all who menstruate.

“The intent behind our design, which has this helical spiral indentation around the outside, is that those grooves are designed to make that flow path longer and therefore make [the tampon] absorb more easily,” Meyer told NBC News on Friday.

The FDA deeming Sequel safe for consumers has been a “great milestone for the company,” Meyer continued, but there’s still a long way to go.

The menstrual product industry has historically resisted disruption. Though a handful of startups have focused on sustainable alternatives in recent years, Sequel instead seeks to differentiate itself through product design.

As Calabrese told The Wall Street Journal, “[Investors] see that you have players that have dominated this industry since the beginning of this product coming to market … and them not being challenged on the actual product level.”

Sequel’s co-founders hope to partner with boutique fitness studios in the coming months, before selling spiral tampons online in late 2023.

In 2022, Tampax manufacturer Proctor & Gamble accounted for almost 40% of domestic tampon sales.

In order to shake up the industry, Sequel’s co-founders have focused on building a social media presence and visibility at festivals like South by Southwest, where they hosted a panel called “Periods on TikTok?! Using Content to Crush Stigmas.”