Hoping to capitalize on brand-name recognition, Irvine-based...

Hoping to capitalize on brand-name recognition, Irvine-based VLI Corp. plans to introduce its second product, called Today Personal Lubricant, by mid-October. The sexual lubricant will be sold in a pump bottle, similar to ones used for hand cream.

And with two products, VLI president Robert Elliott said he expects VLI to turn a profit “in the next two quarters, or certainly in 1986.”

To date, the company has sold 40 million of its first product, disposable contraceptive sponges which sell for about $1 each.

“We have no competition,” Elliot told a group of securities analysts meeting in Newport Beach Thursday.

Meanwhile, VLI recently began human clinical tests in Seattle to see if the sponges can effectively deliver drugs to treat vaginal infections. VLI researchers believe the sponge is an effective way to deliver medicine to treat a wide range of infections, as well as to prevent contraception.

Dr. Ken Berger, vice president of research and development, said VLI also believes the sponge can be used to deliver drugs designed to prevent and cure sexually transmitted diseases. He said the U.S. Agency for International Development is using prostitutes in Bangkok, Thailand, to test specially-treated sponges to see if they are effective in fighting and preventing sexual diseases.