Women travel thousands of miles for a reproductive moonshot. Scientists say they have been misled

Women travel thousands of miles for a reproductive moonshot. Scientists say they have been misled

Women travel thousands of miles for a reproductive moonshot. Scientists say they have been misled

Hundreds of women, including patients from the United States, have travelled to clinics overseas over the past decade for mitochondrial replacement therapy, an experimental technique marketed as a way to improve fertility in older patients, according to an investigation published on November 2. Scientists and ethicists said there is little evidence the procedure helps most of these women. The technique, often called three-parent IVF, moves genetic material from the intended mother's egg or embryo into a donor egg, and was developed to reduce the risk of children inheriting serious mitochondrial diseases. It is effectively barred in the United States, but an Illinois-based broker, International Fertility Group of North America, has connected women in the US and Europe to clinics abroad, raising its package price from 20,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars this year, with medicines, donor eggs and genetic testing often adding more. The investigation found the average age of the broker's patients rose from 39.2 in 2022 to 45.6 last year, and scientists said most age-related infertility comes from chromosomal errors in older eggs, which replacing mitochondria is unlikely to fix.

Hundreds of women, including patients from the United States, have travelled to clinics overseas over the past decade for mitochondrial replacement therapy, an experimental technique marketed as a way to improve fertility in older patients, according to an investigation published on November 2. Scientists and ethicists said there is little evidence the procedure helps most of these women. The technique, often called three-parent IVF, moves genetic material from the intended mother's egg or embryo into a donor egg, and was developed to reduce the risk of children inheriting serious mitochondrial diseases. It is effectively barred in the United States, but an Illinois-based broker, International Fertility Group of North America, has connected women in the US and Europe to clinics abroad, raising its package price from 20,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars this year, with medicines, donor eggs and genetic testing often adding more. The investigation found the average age of the broker's patients rose from 39.2 in 2022 to 45.6 last year, and scientists said most age-related infertility comes from chromosomal errors in older eggs, which replacing mitochondria is unlikely to fix.

Hundreds of women, including patients from the United States, have travelled to clinics overseas over the past decade for mitochondrial replacement therapy, an experimental technique marketed as a way to improve fertility in older patients, according to an investigation published on November 2. Scientists and ethicists said there is little evidence the procedure helps most of these women. The technique, often called three-parent IVF, moves genetic material from the intended mother's egg or embryo into a donor egg, and was developed to reduce the risk of children inheriting serious mitochondrial diseases. It is effectively barred in the United States, but an Illinois-based broker, International Fertility Group of North America, has connected women in the US and Europe to clinics abroad, raising its package price from 20,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars this year, with medicines, donor eggs and genetic testing often adding more. The investigation found the average age of the broker's patients rose from 39.2 in 2022 to 45.6 last year, and scientists said most age-related infertility comes from chromosomal errors in older eggs, which replacing mitochondria is unlikely to fix.