Contraception
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A multi-compartment contraceptive vaginal ring system has been designed for the simultaneous zero-order release of contraceptive steroids, the rates of which can be programmed independently. This vaginal ring system consists of two or more drug-containing Silastic tubes with an outer diameter of 5 mm. The tubes with different lengths, with a total length of 16.5 cm are connected with specially-shaped glass stoppers to obtain a ring with an outer diameter of 60 mm. ⋯ Multicompartment vaginal rings were made and tested with 3-keto-desogestrel and ethinylestradiol. The rings had an outer diameter of 60 mm, and were fabricated with independent in vitro release rates ranging from 75 to 300 micrograms/day and 10 to 30 micrograms/day for, respectively, 3-keto-desogestrel and ethinylestradiol. Using the multi-compartment vaginal ring system, contraceptive devices can be fabricated relatively simply with pre-programmed release rates for a progestogen and an estrogen to investigate the optimal daily doses for vaginal hormonal contraception.