Can biotech craft a safer contraceptive?

Estrogen-based contraceptives have quite literally changed the world, but not everyone can handle the side effects of taking hormones. Biotech may have a solution, thanks to technology long used to treat cancer and inflammatory disease.

As STAT’s Megan Thielking reports, scientists are working on a contraceptive that uses monoclonal antibodies to stop sperm from reaching an egg. The idea, developed by Boston University and Mapp Biopharmaceutical, is to craft a dissolvable film laden with antibodies that would prevent conception without the need for hormones.

It’s early days for the technology, and even if it works, researchers will have to figure out a low-cost way to crank out antibodies at scale in order to make it accessible around the world.

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