A team of researchers at MIT is currently developing a contraceptive pill to be taken only once a month. Clinical trials may soon be scheduled.
In France, the birth control pill is the first contraceptive method . However, it does have some drawbacks. Side effects – bloating, chest tenderness, nausea or even headaches – are an example. Some women also stop taking the pill because they find this mode of contraception restrictive. You have to take it every day , and just one oversight can increase the chances of getting pregnant.
Based on this last principle, a team of researchers from MIT, in the United States, is trying to develop a pill that could only be taken once a month. . Their work has been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine .
For this study, funded by the Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation, researchers developed a capsule that, once in the stomach, dissolves and releases a pill in starfish shape.
Inside the six branches of the structure are confined doses of levonorgestrel , the synthetic progestogen found in particular in the morning after pill. This method then makes it possible to release the hormones gradually , branch by branch.
For this work, one of the main challenges was to develop new polymers capable of surviving several days in the highly acidic environment of the stomach. After testing several in simulated gastric fluid, they finally settled on a well-known type of polymer:polyurethane.
For testing, researchers turned to pigs. The first tests were very conclusive. The pills ingested protected the animals for 29 days on average. Researchers found no side effects or obstructions to the digestive tract.
Christine Metz, from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York (USA), considered this study very promising. On the other hand, she points out that while pigs are more like humans than mice, these animals are still very different from a metabolic point of view.
“Pigs have slightly shorter cycles and their periods are different from those of women , she explains. The mechanisms and pace of food digestion are also very different from those of humans .
First clinical tests could nevertheless be scheduled as early as 2021 , the time for the researchers to "optimize the materials necessary to maintain the dosage form for the desired period and complete release of the hormones within the prescribed time" , they write.
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