An increasing number of individuals are opting for in vitro fertilization (IVF) to conceive. The IVF process involves a demanding regimen, requiring patients to administer expensive hormone injections twice daily for two weeks to mature eggs for retrieval.
A New York-based startup, Gameto, is working to alleviate this challenge by maturing eggs outside the human body. This innovative method reduces the necessity for hormone injections by 80%, thereby shortening the IVF treatment cycle to just a few days. Recent data from the company suggests this approach is effective in producing healthy embryos and successful pregnancies.
The concept of maturing eggs in a laboratory rather than within the ovaries is not novel. In vitro maturation (IVM) emerged in the 1990s, but its limited success rates have hindered widespread adoption compared to IVF. IVM involves extracting eggs and cultivating them in a nutrient-rich solution. Gameto’s technique enhances this process by maturing eggs with ovarian support cells derived from stem cells.
In an online preprint, Gameto reported that its product, Fertilo, achieved higher pregnancy rates than traditional IVM. The first segment of the study involved 20 patients using Fertilo to assess its safety. In the subsequent segment, 20 additional patients were equally divided to receive either Fertilo or IVM. Eggs matured with Fertilo showed a 70% maturation rate, surpassing the 52% rate of standard IVM.
Fertilization of these eggs with sperm revealed that Fertilo resulted in an increased number of viable embryos and a higher pregnancy rate—44% of patients using Fertilo became pregnant after a single treatment cycle, compared to 20% of those undergoing IVM. Thus far, the study has resulted in 15 ongoing pregnancies, 13 from Fertilo and two from IVM. One patient in the Fertilo group conceived naturally after egg retrieval, and this case was excluded from the final analysis. Conducted in Mexico and Peru, the study has not yet undergone peer review.
Dina Radenkovic, CEO and founder of Gameto, highlights that Fertilo aims to provide a patient-focused and empowering solution for family planning. Radenkovic personally experimented with the technology on her own eggs, not for pregnancy, but to test Fertilo’s effectiveness in egg maturation.
Typically, ovaries naturally release one mature egg monthly until menopause. In an IVF cycle, high doses of hormones are self-administered by patients over 10 to 14 days to stimulate the ovaries to produce multiple eggs. This treatment can lead to mood swings, headaches, bloating, and rarely, a severe condition known as ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. In the United States, the cost of stimulation medication ranges from $4,000 to $7,000 per cycle, which constitutes roughly a third of the total IVF costs. Multiple cycles are often necessary for successful conception.
Gameto’s procedure involves an initial hormone administration over two to three days, followed by egg retrieval. The eggs are then incubated with ovarian support cells for approximately 30 hours. The company has developed a technique to create these specialized reproductive cells from stem cells. Christian Kramme, Gameto’s chief scientific officer, states that this approach allows for the recreation of ovarian function outside the body.
