IVF Auckland halves treatment time for NZ women

Embargoed
Wednesday October 10

IVF Auckland halves treatment time for NZ women

The director of IVF Auckland, the first private fertility clinic to be
established in New Zealand in more than a decade, says improved drug
protocols will enable it to halve treatment times for In-vitro Fertilisation
(IVF).

Dr Guy Gudex, medical director for the new clinic, which opens this week,
says overseas experience is now showing that short-cycle, patient-friendly
IVF treatment, requiring drug stimulation for just under two weeks, is just
as effective as the standard month-long - and sometimes longer - cycle
employed to stimulate a woman's egg production.

"The new short-cycle treatment is also significantly more convenient for
women undergoing fertility treatment because it only requires around half of
the amount of drugs used up until now," says Dr Gudex. As these drugs can
only be given by injection this is a major improvement in treatment
protocols.

"The new treatment is better for women because it is a less stressful
process, it has less side effects and is much quicker, so couples see
results earlier than they would with the long treatment cycle," he says.

Dr Gudex, who has been the clinical director of public/private IVF clinics
in Auckland for the past 15 years, is setting up the new facility in Remuera
with seven of his colleagues. They are partnering with Adelaide-based
Repromed, one of the world's leading fertility clinics. Repromed has
already successfully carried out more than 1000 short-cycle treatments in
Australia and it predicts the new technology will dominate the provision of
fertility services on both sides of the Tasman within the next two years.

"Effectively, we will be the first New Zealand IVF clinic to recommend this
short-cycle treatment as a first option, backed and supported by the
clinical experience of our Australian colleagues," says Dr Gudex.

In a move to make fertility treatment more accessible in New Zealand, IVF
Auckland will also be offering more affordable time-payment plans to
patients, which they expect will particularly appeal to younger couples
trying to have children. The cost of the short-cycle treatment is also less
costly than the longer standard treatment.

"Cost is clearly a barrier for some couples seeking help to have children
and as doctors committed to the widest availability of health services
through our ongoing work in the public system, we see an opportunity to
lower this barrier by offering flexible financing in our new clinic," says
Dr Gudex.

Professor Cindy Farquhar an infertility specialist and also a partner in IVF
Auckland, says the new protocol for ovulation stimulation is one of the most
significant developments to come along in fertility treatment in more than a
decade.

"The patient friendly nature of the protocol makes this a major advance for
women. Short-term 'antagonist' treatment has been available for several
years but it is only in the past 12 months that the data has confirmed its
efficacy when compared to standard treatment. With both regimens we are now
looking at the same pregnancy success About 50 percent of women under the
age of 38 who have IVF treatment at Repromed-associated clinics become
pregnant on their first cycle*," says Prof. Farquhar.

Up until now, standard fertility treatment, known as "down regulation", has
required two to three weeks of daily injections of gonadotropin-releasing
hormone 'agonist' to hold off ovulation and effectively give the clinician
control of the timing of the woman's cycle. After two weeks a second daily
injection of follicle stimulating hormone is introduced to stimulate
multiple egg development. The patient self-administers the two injections
for a further 10 to 12 days before a final hormonal "trigger" injection is
administered to cause final maturation of the egg follicles so that eggs can
be harvested by the clinician.

The short-cycle treatment effectively skips out the first two to three weeks
of 'agonist' drug so that the woman's natural ovulation is not suppressed.
Instead just the follicle stimulating hormone is administered daily for 10
days. After five to seven days, the 'antagonist' drug is introduced as a
second injection and only needs to be administered for four or five days
before egg harvest.

"Clearly, the new treatment is a much less stressful process for women and
their partners and one that we will eventually be hoping to offer in the
public system as well as at IVF Auckland," says Prof. Farquhar.

The other partners in IVF Auckland based at 105 Remuera Road, are Drs Karen
Buckingham, Marian Carter, Tal Jacobson, Neil Johnson, Marian Carter and
Martin Sowter. IVF Auckland will also have consultations available through
Shore Women in Mairangi Bay and EastCare Specialists, 260 Botany Rd, Botany
Downs. A sister clinic offering private treatment is planned for
Christchurch.

In New Zealand about half of couples needing fertility services seek private
treatment. Public funding is only available to couples who meet a set of
strict criteria.

To contact IVF Auckland phone (09) 524 1232 or 0800 IVF 105.

*based on per egg collection, with single embryo transfers only and
including associated frozen transfers.

Ends

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