Infertility

Femasys Completes the First In-Office Commercial Procedure with the FDA-Cleared FemaSeed Infertility Solution

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, March 6, 2024

ATLANTA, March 06, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Femasys Inc. (NASDAQ: FEMY), a biomedical company focused on meeting the significant unmet needs for women worldwide with a broad portfolio of in-office, accessible and innovative therapeutic and diagnostic products, announces the first commercial procedure using its FemaSeed intratubal insemination product.

Key Points: 
  • “FemaSeed presents an important advancement in women’s health with the availability of FemaSeed, a cost-effective and potentially safer alternative to other traditional infertility treatments,” said Femasys’ CEO Kathy Lee-Sepsick.
  • “This first commercial application of the technology marks a pivotal moment in reshaping female infertility management, particularly in light of the recent legal rulings on frozen embryos by the Alabama Supreme Court.
  • Engineered to precisely deliver sperm into the fallopian tube, the site of conception, FemaSeed enables reliable and safe fertilization.
  • Dr. Andrew Wagner, Women’s OB-GYN PC, Saginaw, Michigan, who completed the first in-office commercial procedure, stated, “This marks a pivotal moment for women pursuing a reliable, readily available frontline alternative for infertility.

Hope for Women: Womed Unveils First Fertility Restoration Device Proven Effective in Randomized Clinical Trial

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, March 7, 2024

No device indicated for IUA prevention has been shown to be effective in this specific patient group.

Key Points: 
  • No device indicated for IUA prevention has been shown to be effective in this specific patient group.
  • PREG2 is an international, randomized clinical trial designed to measure Womed Leaf's effectiveness.
  • 160 women with severe or moderate IUA were randomly assigned to receive a Womed Leaf or not after adhesiolysis surgery.
  • "Womed Leaf, which is already registered in Europe and Brazil, will be marketed through commercial partners."

San Diego Fertility Center, an Ivy Fertility Clinic, Hires Dr. Valerie Flores

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

Ivy Fertility, a collaborative network of globally-renowned fertility clinics, has welcomed Valerie Flores, MD to its team of physicians at San Diego Fertility Center (SDFC).

Key Points: 
  • Ivy Fertility, a collaborative network of globally-renowned fertility clinics, has welcomed Valerie Flores, MD to its team of physicians at San Diego Fertility Center (SDFC).
  • “We are thrilled that Dr. Flores will be contributing her talents to our physician team,” said Sandy Chuan, MD, medical director at San Diego Fertility Center.
  • She comes to San Diego Fertility Center from Reproductive Partners Fertility Center in San Diego, is an Assistant Professor Adjunct at Yale University’s School of Medicine.
  • “I admire San Diego Fertility Center and Ivy Fertility for leading our industry by putting compassion and collaboration first,” said Dr. Flores.

JOURNALIST AND INFERTILE AF PODCAST HOST ALI PRATO WRITES CHILDREN'S BOOK ABOUT IVF, "WORK OF ART" - OUT TODAY

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 5, 2024

MAPLEWOOD, N.J., March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Ali Prato, journalist, Fertility Rally co-founder and Infertile AF podcast host, has written a groundbreaking children's book about IVF and family building through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART), published today. 

Key Points: 
  • Ali Prato, host of Infertile AF podcast wrote a children's book about IVF and Assisted Reproductive Technology out now.
  • Ali is an infertility warrior and advocate who went through secondary infertility before having her second child, Sonny, through IVF.
  • Ali's podcast, Infertile AF, founded in 2019, has released more than 260 episodes and has been downloaded globally more than 1.4 million times.
  • But there's something about Sonny that sets him apart from the other kids – he was conceived through Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and IVF.

Illume Fertility Joins Senator Richard Blumenthal in News Conference Urging Congress to Pass Federal Protections for Infertility Treatment

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, March 5, 2024

NORWALK, Conn., March 5, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Illume Fertility, a leading modern fertility practice with locations in Connecticut and New York, appeared alongside U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and other reproductive rights advocates at a press conference in Hartford on Friday to demand federal protections for infertility treatments in the wake of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling restricting in vitro fertilization (IVF).

Key Points: 
  • "1 in 6 people worldwide suffer from infertility, and access to treatment options like IVF is essential.
  • My own family would not exist without IVF - for me and the millions of other Americans that need access to fertility care, this is personal."
  • Senator Blumenthal is calling on Congress to quickly pass the Access to Family Building Act, a bill introduced by Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) which would override state limits and establish a statutory right to access in vitro fertilization (IVF) nationwide.
  • The Access to Family Building Act is endorsed by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) and RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association.

Government of Canada releases 2024-2030 Action Plan on Sexually Transmitted and Blood-Borne Infections

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 27, 2024 /CNW/ - Sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) are largely preventable, treatable, and in many cases curable.

Key Points: 
  • OTTAWA, ON, Feb. 27, 2024 /CNW/ - Sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) are largely preventable, treatable, and in many cases curable.
  • However, rates of sexually transmitted infections in Canada have increased over the last decade—gonorrhea rates have doubled since 2012, and syphilis rates are five times what they were.
  • That is why today, the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health, launched the Government of Canada's sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBI) action plan 2024-2030 and announced $2.45 million in funding to address STBBI in Canada.
  • The Action Plan will continue to work towards reducing STBBI related stigma, to prevent new and reoccurring infections and connect people to testing, prevention, treatment and care."

The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine supports Alabama infertility patients

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, February 24, 2024

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine ("Jones Foundation") was founded by IVF pioneers Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr. and Dr. Georgeanna S. Jones who established the first in vitro fertilization program in the United States, the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, that was responsible for the first American born IVF baby in 1981, and training many of today's leaders in the field.

Key Points: 
  • VIRGINIA BEACH, Va., Feb. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Howard and Georgeanna Jones Foundation for Reproductive Medicine ("Jones Foundation") was founded by IVF pioneers Dr. Howard W. Jones, Jr. and Dr. Georgeanna S. Jones who established the first in vitro fertilization program in the United States, the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine, that was responsible for the first American born IVF baby in 1981, and training many of today's leaders in the field.
  • "The ruling directly threatens Alabama reproductive medicine and infertility physicians and their patients.
  • The IVF therapy patients need in order to have a baby may be eliminated in Alabama and jeopardized in other U.S. states.
  • We must speak out and support reproductive medicine physicians and scientists and, especially, their patients."

UKG Earns Spot on Forbes’ America’s Best Large Employers List Once Again

Retrieved on: 
Thursday, February 15, 2024

UKG , a leading provider of HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture solutions for all people, has been named by Forbes as one of America's Best Large Employers in 2024.

Key Points: 
  • UKG , a leading provider of HR, payroll, workforce management, and culture solutions for all people, has been named by Forbes as one of America's Best Large Employers in 2024.
  • “Our commitment to helping create great workplace cultures for all remains at the core of everything we do.
  • We’re always actively looking for ways to continually improve UKG, from our culture to our products to our services.
  • Read and subscribe to the UKG Workforce Activity Report , a proprietary labor index that provides insight into the frontline workforce.

Reproductive Partners Medical Group, an Ivy Fertility Clinic, Expands With New Providers And New Location

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, February 14, 2024

Dr. Chang and Dr. Brower are both double board certified reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists.

Key Points: 
  • Dr. Chang and Dr. Brower are both double board certified reproductive endocrinologists and infertility specialists.
  • “Reproductive Partners Medical Group has stayed at the forefront of our field by honoring our heritage of excellence while continually looking toward the future,” said Lab Medical Director Gayane Ambartsumyan, MD.
  • She received her medical degree from University of California, Davis, and completed her residency in Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
  • “This is an exciting time to join Reproductive Partners Medical Group and Ivy Fertility,” said Dr. Brower.

The real threat to gender-diverse children is the politicization of care issues like puberty blockers and detransition

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

“I think that we should protect children and their ability to make adult decisions when they’re adults,” Poilievre said.

Key Points: 
  • “I think that we should protect children and their ability to make adult decisions when they’re adults,” Poilievre said.
  • Poilievre is one among many politicians to wade into debates surrounding gender-affirming health care in recent years.
  • Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has proposed controversial policies that would affect gender-diverse youth, including prohibiting puberty blockers for children aged 15 and under.

Fertility and gender-affirming medicine

  • Two opinion columnists recently wrote about gender-affirming care for minors, making drastically different remarks about the fertility implications of this care.
  • Research on fertility outcomes is lackluster to begin with, but outcomes are highly sensitive to whether puberty blockers were taken prior to starting cross-sex hormones and the stage of puberty.
  • However, for transgender people who begin cross-sex hormones after undergoing at least some natal puberty, fertility does not seem to be permanently affected.

Puberty blockers

  • When puberty blockers were first tested for use with gender dysphoric youth, transgender adults were being coercively sterilized.
  • In fact, fertility is not the only issue at stake with puberty blockers.
  • A team of Dutch clinicians who were among the first to offer transgender children puberty blockers recently acknowledged that these drugs may not be just a “pause button” to explore identity, as originally intended.
  • But there are also major consequences involved in delaying or withholding treatment with puberty blockers, which could hurt transgender girls more than boys.
  • Poilievre gives the wrong impression by saying that “we should protect the rights of parents to make their own decision with regards to their children,” because, given the age of the child, parents are typically involved in the decision to start puberty blockers.

Detransition debate

  • Detransition also tops the list.
  • On one side, opponents of gender-affirming care distort studies to argue detransition has reached epidemic proportions and draw from testimonies of regretful detransitioners as a “cautionary tale against medical transitioning.” Proponents retort by dismissing detransition either by alluding to its “rarity,” using outdated and flawed studies, or by decoupling the experience from regret.
  • As a result, the public is exposed to two different sets of “facts,” none of which reflect the heterogeneity that we and others have encountered in researching detransition — different psychological, medical and social motives for detransitioning; a range of emotions including regret, resilience, and satisfaction; expansive patterns of identity discovery and fluidity.

Guidelines, dilemmas and the need for high-quality research

  • But that does not mean the science is settled or that the medicine has no room for improvement.
  • Gender-affirming care is riddled with ethical dilemmas that have spilled over into an explosive political situation.
  • The changing landscape of transgender health care, debates about puberty blockers and detransition are all low-hanging fruit for opportunistic politicians like Poilievre.
  • He is a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
  • Pablo Expósito-Campos receives funding from the Predoctoral Research Fellowship Program of the Government of the Basque Country, Spain.