Monthly Contraceptive Pill Shows Promise in Pig Study

A device that releases synthetic hormones slowly over time could one day provide a more practical alternative to daily birth control pills, say scientists.

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Researchers at MIT have developed an oral contraceptive pill that releases hormones slowly into the stomach with the goal of developing a product that only needs to be taken on a once-a-month basis. A trial of the device in pigs, described yesterday (December 4) in Science Translational Medicine, indicates that the technology is as good as the daily birth control pill at maintaining high levels of contraceptive hormones in the blood.

“The concept of a monthly oral contraceptive pill is attractive and has the potential to broaden contraceptive choice,” Diana Mansour, vice president of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare in the UK, tells the BBC. “However, the development of such a novel contraceptive is still in its early stages. We look forward to further research in this area.”

While the oral contraceptive pill is up to 99 percent effective for women who take one ...

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  • Catherine Offord

    Catherine is a science journalist based in Barcelona.
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