Bill Gates and his ex-wife Melinda Gates' foundation has donated £1.2 million towards male contraceptive research.
Thanks to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Dundee University has been able to make great progress in its studies into male fertility and its goal to "address" the "inequality" in protection against unwanted pregnancies.
The institution is pulling on all its resources and expertise in a bid to get to "the first stages of drug development" for a male contraceptive pill, and they are grateful for the Microsoft co-founder's generous contribution.
Chris Barratt, Professor of Reproductive Medicine in Dundee University’s School of Medicine, said: "There has been no significant change in the field of male contraception since the development of the condom.
"This means that much of the burden of protecting against unwanted pregnancies continue to fall upon women.
"We hope to address that inequality and we have already made progress, thanks to our previous round of funding received from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
"Dundee is uniquely placed to continue with this research, combining our internationally recognised expertise in male fertility research within our School of Medicine, with our knowledge in drug design based within our School of Life Sciences.
"By the end of this two-year period, we would like to have identified a high-quality compound that we can progress to the first stages of drug development.
"That would be a significant step forward for the field and could potentially be the key that unlocks a new era in male contraception.
"Dundee houses a world-leading Drug Discovery Unit within the School of Life Sciences, which has proven expertise in innovative science and delivering translational science.
"Our work is incredibly challenging, and so the importance of being able to work with world-class research colleagues within the same institution cannot be overstated.
"Collaborative working is absolutely critical as we proceed and being able to do that in-house is a huge advantage as we progress with this research."
