Pirie did his research in this area before the development of the combined oral contraceptive and the intrauterine device. At that time there was great interest in developing methods of family planning. Following the initial progress in the 1950s and 1960s, research on novel contraceptives declined. This was particularly evident in the pharmaceutical industry, where R&D efforts were dismantled.
This trend continued through the 1970s and into the 1980s until, today, very few of the original companies involved in the development of birth control methods remain active in the field. Initially, there was an attempt by foundations and national governments to fill the void left by the pharmaceutical industry. This was somewhat successful at first, but interest in the development of contraceptives declined so much that many funders who were interested in the field have either reduced their support or withdrawn it altogether. The reduced research support in this field ...
