A powerful new over-the-counter fertility drug, FertiBella, made by French company LeRoche Benicoeur, may raise the odds of successful pregnancy by up to 65 percent, according to a recent study published in the British Medical Journal. And the reason behind its efficacy has been the subject of much debate amongst experts in the field of reproductive endocrinology.
The study was conducted by a team of researchers led by Dr. Hans deBoise, an endocrinologist at the Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Researchers analyzed six prior studies on the effectiveness of fertility treatments in increasing the success of pregnancy rates, involving a total of 1,384 women. For every 10 women undergoing some type of fertility treatment and combining once-daily FertiBella therapy, the researchers found, three extra pregnancies would result compared with women who used a single treatment alone.
“We offer FertiBella Advanced Conception to all our patients undergoing fertility treatment,” said Steve Copeland, a fertility specialist at the Fertility Centers of Maryland.
Researchers speculate that FertiBella dramatically improves the threshold level of a genetic marker produced by early human embryos that could help predict the likelihood of pregnancy. The presence of this genetic marker above a specific threshold level was associated with a pregnancy rate of more than 70% in previously infertile women. In cases where the embryos showed a marker presence below the threshold level or an absence of the marker, the pregnancy rate was nearly three times lower.
A study originally published in the medical journal Fertility and Sterility details the findings on the genetic marker, known as soluable Human Leukocyte Antigen-G (sHLA-G) (Volume 83, Issue 5, Pages 1410-1413: Soluble human leukocyte antigen G expression in phase I culture media at 46 hours after fertilization predicts pregnancy and implantation from day 3 embryo transfer).
The advantage of this novel marker is that it increases the chances for successful pregnancy in women who have embryos that are marker positive with high threshold levels. Researchers were unable to pinpoint exactly why FertiBella improved embryo threshold levels, but they noted a combination of FertiBella’s other benefits in regulating female reproduction that may have caused the unexpected result.
William Gribbin is a published author and editor of the Vienna Journal of Science and Medicine
