A Vaccine for Birth Control?
For half a century, Gursaran Pran Talwar has been developing what he hopes will be the next big thing in birth control. A nonagenarian who was once the director of India’s National Institute of Immunology, Talwar envisions bringing to market a new form of contraception that could block pregnancy without the usual trade-offs—an intervention that’s long-acting but reversible; cheap, discreet, and easy to administer; less invasive than an intrauterine device and more convenient than a daily pill. It would skip messy, sometimes dangerous side effects, such as weight gain, mood swings, and rare but risky blood clots and strokes. It would embody the sort of “set it and forget it” model that’s become a gold standard for health—and, in his words, be “accepted by the world over.”
Talwar’s invention is now in early-stage clinical trials. If all goes well, it could become humanity’s first contraceptive vaccine—one that would prevent pregnancies in a way distinct from any birth control ever cleared for human use. Whether they’re packaged as pills, patches, implants, or shots,
