Innovation: Contraceptive kit

After 15 years of preliminary research, the home diagnostics company, Unipath, is about to start clinical trials of a natural contraceptive system. With the use of a urine test and a hand- held monitor, the kit tracks changing levels of the hormones that control ovulation, pinpointing the fertile period. The trials, involving 1,200 women in the UK, Ireland and Germany, will last a year, with the kit likely to be available in 1995.