你相信每月一次的避孕药吗?

你相信每月一次的避孕药吗?

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.

不愿每天同时服用避孕药的女性，很快就会有机会每月只在日历上标注一次。

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.

麻省理工学院的科学家们认为，他们找到了一种更方便的口服避孕药的方法，这种避孕药在吞咽后可以在体内停留数天或数周。他们已经成功地完成了这种药丸的动物试验，并希望很快能在人类身上进行试验。

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.

这种创新药物呈药丸状，但当吞咽时，明胶包膜胶囊到达胃部时会溶解，使星体的六个点展开，并稳定释放出三周的预防怀孕激素。

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.

虽然每个月只吃一次药的想法让人想起《周六夜现场》(SNL)“年度”节目中模仿的那种好得令人难以置信的场景，但研究人员对这项技术感到兴奋。

“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.

罗伯特·兰格教授在麻省理工学院新闻办公室的一份声明中说:“我们希望这项工作——据我们所知，这是迄今为止第一个使用一个月的药片或胶囊的研究——有一天将为女性健康带来潜在的新模式和选择，以及其他的适应症。”

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.

这项研究主要由比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会资助，该基金会要求麻省理工学院的研究人员开发更持久的药物输送系统。这项工作还导致了使用同样的星形胶囊方法治疗疟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.

现在，研究人员正在研究各种可能导致星形胶囊破裂的触发因素，并估计在未来三到五年内不会开始人体测试。