A Massachusetts company, MicroCHIPS, thinks it’s found the answer to birth control pills and unwanted pregnancies — a hormonal contraceptive that could be implanted beneath the skin and activated by a wireless remote.
The device is still in the development phase. But projections are that it could last up to 16 years inside a woman’s body, United Press International reported. While activated, it would shoot about 30 micrograms a day of levonorgestrel — a drug that prevents pregnancy — into the woman’s abdomen, arms or buttocks, UPI said.
Another touted benefit of the chip: Unlike other implants, like IUDs, this device would not need to be medically removed, but rather simply turned off and deactivated, UPI said.
The brains behind the chip appears to be Bill Gates, who suggested its development while visiting the lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology that’s used by MicroCHIPS co-founder Robert Langer, UPI said. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is paying for partial funding for the research and development of the chip, which is expected to be ready for testing in 2015.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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