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Innovative Contraceptive Gels and
Sprays Enter Clinical Testing
Many women are dissatisfied with their current contraceptive choices.
Thirty-one percent discontinue use of reversible contraceptives for
method-related reasons within six months of starting to use them, and 44
percent have abandoned their chosen method within a year.
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New products would allow women to apply contraceptive spray
or gel to a forearm or leg or to the abdomen. |
More than 100 million married women in the developing world who do not
want to become pregnant are not practicing contraception. Many lack
access to reproductive health services and, for many, the current
contraceptive options are unsuitable for their day-to-day lives. Young
women just entering their reproductive years who want to have small
families will need to rely on contraceptives for an average of 30 to 35
years (from their late teens until they are about 50). The current unmet
need for contraception, combined with anticipated future need, makes
expanding the choice of safe, effective,
and inexpensive methods critical.
The Population Council is testing two innovative transdermal delivery
systems: a gel product, developed in collaboration with Antares Pharma
of Santiago, Chile, and a spray-on method, produced in partnership with
Acrux Limited of Australia. Both products contain Nestorone®—a
versatile synthetic progestin similar to the natural hormone
progesterone—which has been studied extensively by Council scientists.
Nestorone can be used in rings, patches, gels, and implants and,
combined with estrogen or used alone, for contraception or hormone
therapy. The spray represents the first non-oral contraceptive developed
to deliver natural estrogen in combination with Nestorone. One advantage
of this approach is that the risk of venous thromboembolism (blood
clots) is four times lower with transdermal delivery than with oral
delivery of the compound.
If proven safe and effective, both methods would be affordable,
reversible, and easy to use. They are applied to and absorbed through
the skin and take advantage of the skin’s ability to deliver substances
into the bloodstream. Because they are not used orally, both methods are
particularly appropriate for use by breastfeeding mothers.
Dose-finding studies of Nestorone delivered via the gel indicate that a
sufficient amount of the molecule can be delivered through the skin to
inhibit ovulation. Earlier studies showed that the gel is well accepted
by women and easy for them to administer.(Return to issue contents)
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