If you’re a woman who takes birth control pills, chances are, you’ve missed a dose before.
Boston scientists report that they have made good progress in developing a contraceptive pill that only needs to be taken once a month, which is an incredible feat. It essentially works by sitting in your stomach for a long time whilst the durable pill is very slowly dissolved over the course of the month.
The team is very confident their work has the potential to “empower women” and become a great alternative to the one-a-day contraceptive pill.
It has only been tested on animals such as pigs so far, who have a similar digestive system to us, and it’s good to remember the research is still in the early stages, no matter how promising it sounds. Below is a diagram of how the pill works.
/Diagram by Lyndra Therapeutics
“Our capsule represents a major advancement toward providing women with a once-a-month contraceptive,” author Giovanni Traverso, a researcher at the Brigham and MIT, said to press.
“We began our work on extended drug release by working with treatments for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV. But early on, we were having conversations about the potential impact that extended drug release could have for family planning. We wanted to help empower women with respect to fertility control and are pleased to report our progress toward that goal,” they continued.
As mentioned before, as promising as all this sounds, research is still in the early stages. And as anyone that follows the news knows, getting drugs approved for human use can be a long and drawn out process.
