SERONO ACHIEVES IVF SUCCESS WITH rhFSH

Swiss fertility specialist Ares-Serono has reported the first successful human pregnancy after treatment with its new recombinant follicle stimulating hormone (rhFSH) product, Gonal-F. The pregnancy was achieved at the fertility unit of the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne.

The subject, a 32-year-old woman recruited into Serono's Phase III study of Gonal-F, was suffering from primary tubal infertility caused by occlusion of both fallopian tubes. She received subcutaneous Gonal-F to stimulate multiple development of follicles prior to undergoing in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. 28 days after embryo transfer, an ultrasound scan revealed an ongoing, intrauterine twin pregnancy. The pregnancy is reported in The Lancet (May 9).

"For Ares-Serono, the first pregnancy ever obtained in the world with our recombinant product represents a significant advance in the treatment of infertility," said Fabio Bertarelli, chief executive of the Ares-Serono Group. The extremely high degree of purity of Gonal-F, he went on, allows for subcutaneous administration, which is more convenient than other FSH products which are given by intramuscular injection.