Researchers To Test New Birth Control Options

CLEVELAND -- Some major birth control studies are going to take place at a handful of locations across the country.

Dr. James Lui, of University Hospitals in Cleveland, secured millions of dollars in funding for cutting edge birth control research.

It may seem like there are a ton of contraceptives to choose from, but there has been very little new development in contraception over the last 20 years, reported WEWS-TV in Cleveland. There is the birth control pill, and different ways of delivering the pill, but no real new approaches.

This could change, though. University Hospitals is going to test a new spermicide with the ability to kill HIV. The study will not put participants at risk for AIDS -- University Hospitals is only testing the birth control part of that.

The contraceptive ring, a birth control pill that gives a woman her period once a season, and the birth control patch are all relatively new concepts.

But what these forms of contraception don't do, and what troubles the medical community most, is prevent sexually transmitted diseases. Only condoms are good at that.

To volunteer for a study in your area, visit clinicaltrials.gov.