你相信每月一次的避孕藥嗎?

你相信每月一次的避孕藥嗎?

Women who begrudge having to take their birth-control pill at the same time every day may soon get the chance to mark their calendars just once a month.

不愿每天同時服用避孕藥的女性，很快就會有機會每月只在日歷上標注一次。

Scientists at MIT think they’ve found a way more convenient oral contraceptive, which can remain in the body for days or weeks after it’s swallowed. They’ve completed successful animal trials for the pill, and hope to try it on humans soon.

麻省理工學(xué)院的科學(xué)家們認為，他們找到了一種更方便的口服避孕藥的方法，這種避孕藥在吞咽后可以在體內(nèi)停留數(shù)天或數(shù)周。他們已經(jīng)成功地完成了這種藥丸的動物試驗，并希望很快能在人類身上進行試驗。

The innovative drug comes in a pill shape, but when swallowed, the gelatin-coated capsule dissolves as it reaches the stomach, allowing the six points of a star to unfold and steadily release three weeks’ worth of pregnancy prevention hormones.

這種創(chuàng)新藥物呈藥丸狀，但當吞咽時，明膠包膜膠囊到達胃部時會溶解，使星體的六個點展開，并穩(wěn)定釋放出三周的預(yù)防懷孕激素。

And while the idea of taking a pill just once a month calls to mind the kind of too-good-to-be-true scenario parodied in “SNL’s” “Annuale” bit, researchers are excited about the technology.

雖然每個月只吃一次藥的想法讓人想起《周六夜現(xiàn)場》(SNL)“年度”節(jié)目中模仿的那種好得令人難以置信的場景，但研究人員對這項技術(shù)感到興奮。

“We are hopeful that this work — the first example ever of a monthlong pill or capsule to our knowledge — will someday lead to potentially new modalities and options for women’s health as well as other indications,” said professor Robert Langer in a statement to the MIT News Office.

羅伯特·蘭格教授在麻省理工學(xué)院新聞辦公室的一份聲明中說:“我們希望這項工作——據(jù)我們所知，這是迄今為止第一個使用一個月的藥片或膠囊的研究——有一天將為女性健康帶來潛在的新模式和選擇，以及其他的適應(yīng)癥。”

The study was funded primarily by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which asked the MIT researchers to develop longer-lasting drug-delivery systems. That work has also led to the development of treatments for malaria and HIV using the same star-shaped capsule method.

這項研究主要由比爾和梅琳達·蓋茨基金會資助，該基金會要求麻省理工學(xué)院的研究人員開發(fā)更持久的藥物輸送系統(tǒng)。這項工作還導(dǎo)致了使用同樣的星形膠囊方法治療瘧疾和艾滋病毒的研究。

Now, researchers are investigating various triggers that might cause the star to break apart, and estimate that human tests won’t commence for another three to five years.

現(xiàn)在，研究人員正在研究各種可能導(dǎo)致星形膠囊破裂的觸發(fā)因素，并估計在未來三到五年內(nèi)不會開始人體測試。