The U.S. has fallen behind other countries in developing contraceptives, depriving Americans of birth control choices available elsewhere, a study by the Institute of Medicine reports.
All but one of the major pharmaceutical companies in the U.S. have stopped significant contraceptive research, and new birth control techniques used overseas haven't been cleared for the U.S. market...
There are a number of promising contraceptive developments on the horizon, some of which already are in use outside the U.S. These include a contraceptive vaccine, reversible male and female sterilization procedures, long-lasting contraceptives that can be implanted under a woman's skin, new spermicides that help reduce the risk of venereal disease, and new male contraceptives that interfere with the production of sperm. But without new spending on research and a different regulatory climate, Americans will continue to depend on 20-year-old birth control technology, said Luigi Mastroianni Jr., the committee's chairman.
