The World Health Organization initiative on implantation research

Recognizing that the currently available contraceptive options represent a limited choice for women, contraceptive research and development programs have identified the process of implantation as a promising area for investigation. Contraceptive methods that prevent implantation and can be taken on a once-a-month basis appear to be an attractive option for many women in a variety of settings. A recently completed 5-year, international, collaborative research programme — conducted by the World Health Organization with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation — has identified a number of promising leads for once-a-month method development and the more promising of these leads are being actively followed up in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry.