Yahoo Lifestyle Remote control contraception: the future of the pill?
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Days spent stressing about missed contraceptive pills could be a thing of the past with the longest-lasting and most hassle-free contraceptive ever invented just around the corner.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced it is backing a US biotech company to develop an implantable contraceptive that can be activated and deactivated at the press of a button.
Massachusetts startup MicroCHIPS Inc. is building a wireless device 20 millimeters long that would last 16 years. The chip, which would lie under the skin in the buttocks, upper arm or abdomen, slowly releases levonorgestrel, a hormone used in some types of the pill and hormonal IUDs.
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Current contraceptive implants, inserted into a woman’s upper arm where they release the hormone progestin, last about three years and are the size of a matchstick.
There are concerns surrounding the security of implanted wireless technology, with warnings in the past about the hacking vulnerability of medical devices, with a remote control drug delivery system giving hackers the ability to change the dosage to allow someone to fall pregnant.
WH birth control hub
If the chip works as intended, women could deactivate their birth control without a trip to the doctor, which can be a barrier for women who don’t have easy access to health care. The chip’s long lifespan would also minimize doctor’s visits, with no type of hormonal birth control on the market lasting longer than five years.
The device will begin pre-clinical testing in 2015 and if successful, it will be on the market by 2018.
