A Massachusetts-based company named MircoCHIPS has designed a revolutionary electronic chip which, when planted under a woman's skin, can provide long-term birth control.

The chip is designed to last for about 16 years, which is roughly half a woman's reproductive lifespan. Its dimensions are 20 X20 X 7 mm³.

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The chip is created in such way that it will release 30 mg of levonorgestrel, a popular contraceptive, into a woman's body on a daily basis. Levonorgestrel is commonly used in hormonal contraceptives.

A woman can easily use the chip. She turns the chip on with a remote control when she wants to prevent a pregnancy. She turns the chip off when she wants to conceive. Just like that!

The idea for the chip originated some two years ago. When Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his colleagues visited an MIT Lab, they asked Robert Langer, a professor there, whether a birth-control chip could be designed that could easily be used by a woman.

The chip is currently undergoing clinical trials. The trials will prove if the chip is durable and does not create any adverse immune reaction.

The chip was planted in woman's body during a trial. The entire process took less than 30 minutes and the woman was given a local anesthetic. 

The team that devloped the remote controlled contraceptive led by  Langer is adapting it for contraceptives. It hopes to have the contraceptive device approved by the Food and Drug Administration for pre-clinical trials next year.

The product could be on the market by 2018.

TagsContraceptive Chip, Contraceptive Technology