The bitter pill.

Fundamentally new approaches to birth control--for example, a male pill, a once-a-month menses inducer, and an antifertility vaccine--cannot be realized before the next century, and then only if the virtual withdrawal of the pharmaceutical industry from this field can be reversed. Major changes in product liability would be the most significant incentive.

Birth control after 1984.

1) Eric Blair (alias George Orwell) can rest easy in his grave, because birth control by governmentally imposed methods, such as incorporation of a contraceptive agent into drinking water, is totally unfeasible by 1984. 2) Fundamentally new birth control procedures in the female (for example, a once-a-month luteolytic or abortifacient agent) and a male contraceptive pill probably will not be developed until the 1980's at the earliest, and then only if major steps of the type outlined in this article are instituted in the early 1970's. Development during the next decade of practical new methods of birth control without important incentives for continued active participation by the pharmaceutical industry is highly unlikely. If none are developed, birth control in 1984 will not differ significantly from that of today.

Injectable contraceptive synthesis: an example of international cooperation.

Since many contraceptives appropriate for use in developing countries are not of major interest to the pharmaceutical companies in developed countries, the World Health Organization has sponsored a program whereby contraceptives are developed outside the traditional pharmaceutical industry channels. This program might serve as a model for the develoment of other drugs or even pesticides.

Insect control of the future: operational and policy aspects.

uman and insect population control have several features in common, all of them indicating that the lag times in converting laboratory discoveries into practical agents are increasing greatly and that ROI calculations are becoming more and more significant in decisions related to the development of new agents. ROI calculations are particularly important in the field of insect control because, by being more specific, the agents of the future are likely to cover smaller markets. Several recommendations for stimulating the development of new methods of insect control are proposed which are addressed primarily to policy-makers. If they are not implemented, then our suggestions should at least stimulate others to make alternative proposals. If neither event occurs, then it is unlikely that there will be any fundamentally new approaches to practical insect control in this decade; a similar prediction (6) that was made 4 years ago in the field of human birth control is rapidly proving to be correct.

Biophysical properties of unusual phospholipids and sterols from marine invertebrates.

Liposomes composed of 1,2-di-(5Z,9Z)-5-9-hexacosadienoyl-sn-glycero-3-pho sph ocholine underwent an endothermic phase transition at 42 degrees C. Cholesterol or the marine sterols studied did not affect this transition to an appreciable extent, but rather were excluded from the phospholipid bilayers. Membranes composed of 1,2-di-(5Z,9Z)-5,9-hexacosadienoyl-sn-glycero-3-pho sph ocholine displayed very similar phase properties. Effects of the marine sterols on dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine bilayers were also investigated.

Synthesis and biochemical screening of phenylselenium-substituted steroid hormones.

The syntheses of phenylselenium-substituted progesterone [21- (1) and 17 alpha-(phenylseleno)progesterone (2)] and testosterone [16 beta- (3) and 16 alpha-(phenylseleno)testosterone (4)] derivatives are described, along with data which help to establish the stereochemistry of the substituents in the testosterone molecules. Except for 21-(phenylseleno)-progesterone, the molecules exhibit greatly reduced receptor-binding capabilities.