{"id":6001,"date":"2019-12-16T11:16:21","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T11:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/?p=6001"},"modified":"2019-12-16T11:16:21","modified_gmt":"2019-12-16T11:16:21","slug":"scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\" data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-6002\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"915\" height=\"493\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353-300x162.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353-500x269.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 915px) 100vw, 915px\" \/>Female contraceptives are one of the ways to prevent pregnancies, only if you take it daily\u00a0without fail. But the fact is, most of the women forget to take that pill. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital with support from the Gates Foundation are trying to create a once-a-month birth control pill, to solve this issue.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\">In the study published in\u00a0<em><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/stm.sciencemag.org\/content\/11\/521\/eaay2602.full\">Science Translational Medicine<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<\/em>the team led by the Robert Langer, who runs one of the world\u2019s largest chemical engineering labs at MIT, and Dr Giovanni Traverso, a gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital and assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, report on a polymer they designed to survive in the harsh, acidic environment of the human stomach for about 30 days. The new, monthly pill releases the common contraceptive drug levonorgestrel gradually over four weeks, explain the researchers. In a test with pigs, they found that the monthly pill released about the same amount of levonorgestrel in the blood each day as a daily pill.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\" data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Currently, long-acting birth control methods that release contraceptives continuously require an invasive procedure to the implant, usually on the upper arm, which is a deterrent for some women. Other long-term methods, including intrauterine and intravaginal devices, some of which also release hormones that prevent pregnancy, require insertions and removals to be performed by doctors. A long-acting pill would give women more control over their contraception without the complications of implants and devices.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\" data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;Coming up with a monthly version of a contraceptive drug could have a tremendous impact on global health. The impact that oral contraceptives can have on human health and gender equality cannot be overstated,&#8221; Co-lead author Ameya Kirtane, Ph.D., of The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\" data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Co-senior author Prof. Robert Langer, also of MIT, adds, &#8220;We are hopeful that this work the first example ever of a month-long pill or capsule, to our knowledge \u2014 will someday lead to potentially new modalities and options for women&#8217;s health as well as other indications.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #333333;\" data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Source: Medical News Today, Time.com<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"highwire-cite-title media__headline__title\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">A once-a-month oral contraceptive<\/span><\/div>\n<p class=\"highwire-cite-authors byline\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\">BY <span class=\"highwire-citation-authors\"><span class=\"highwire-citation-author first\" data-delta=\"0\">AMEYA R. KIRTANE<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"1\">TIFFANY HUA<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"2\">ALISON HAYWARD<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"3\">AMBIKA BAJPAYEE<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"4\">ANIKET WAHANE<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"5\">AARON LOPES<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"6\">TAYLOR BENSEL<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"7\">LIHONG MA<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"8\">FRANK Z. STANCZYK<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"9\">SIERRA BROOKS<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"10\">DECLAN GWYNNE<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"11\">JACOB WAINER<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"12\">JOY COLLINS<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"13\">SIDDARTHA M. TAMANG<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"14\">ROBERT LANGER<\/span>, <span class=\"highwire-citation-author\" data-delta=\"15\">GIOVANNI TRAVERSO<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"highwire-cite-metadata byline\"><span style=\"color: #333333;\"><em>SCIENCE TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE<\/em><time>04 DEC 2019<\/time><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Female contraceptives are one of the ways to prevent pregnancies, only if you take it daily\u00a0without fail. But the fact is, most of the women forget to take that pill. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital with support from the Gates Foundation are trying to create a once-a-month birth control pill, to solve [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":6002,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[521,724,602],"class_list":["post-6001","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-birth-control","tag-contraceptive-pill","tag-first-in-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Female contraceptives are one of the ways to prevent pregnancies, only if you take it daily\u00a0without fail. But the fact is, most of the women forget to take that pill. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital with support from the Gates Foundation are trying to create a once-a-month birth control pill, to solve [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"DailyRounds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"655\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"353\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DailyRounds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DailyRounds\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"DailyRounds\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454\"},\"headline\":\"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/ocps-655x353.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"birth control\",\"contraceptive pill\",\"first in world\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/ocps-655x353.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/ocps-655x353.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/12\\\/ocps-655x353.jpg\",\"width\":655,\"height\":353},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"DailyRounds\",\"description\":\"Largest academic Doctors network\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454\",\"name\":\"DailyRounds\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailyrounds.org\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/minu\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds","og_description":"Female contraceptives are one of the ways to prevent pregnancies, only if you take it daily\u00a0without fail. But the fact is, most of the women forget to take that pill. Researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital with support from the Gates Foundation are trying to create a once-a-month birth control pill, to solve [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/","og_site_name":"DailyRounds","article_published_time":"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":655,"height":353,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"DailyRounds","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"DailyRounds","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/"},"author":{"name":"DailyRounds","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454"},"headline":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill","datePublished":"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","keywords":["birth control","contraceptive pill","first in world"],"articleSection":["Blog"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/","name":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill - DailyRounds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","datePublished":"2019-12-16T11:16:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","width":655,"height":353},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/scientists-make-progress-toward-a-once-a-month-contraceptive-pill\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Scientists make progress toward a once-a-month contraceptive pill"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/","name":"DailyRounds","description":"Largest academic Doctors network","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/f1f8f4904507b9ce4c90c65c9c06f454","name":"DailyRounds","url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/author\/minu\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5KbfC-1yN","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/ocps-655x353.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6001"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6003,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6001\/revisions\/6003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailyrounds.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}