Health Rounds: Experimental treatment may improve odds of in vitro fertilization success

(This is an excerpt of the Health Rounds newsletter, where we present latest medical studies on Tuesdays and Thursdays.)

By Nancy Lapid

Jan 14 (Reuters) – An experimental treatment significantly improves the quality of human eggs and increases the proportion that can be used for in vitro fertilization, researchers reported at the Fertility 2026 conference in the UK.

In lab experiments, the treatment raised the proportion of viable eggs from about 47% to 71%, manufacturer Ovo Labs GmbH in Munich said in a press release.

If the treatment proves effective in actual assisted reproduction procedures, it could lead to an additional million babies being born through IVF each year worldwide, the company said.

For an egg to give rise to a viable embryo at fertilization and ultimately a healthy baby, it must contain the correct amount of genetic material, study leader and OVO Labs co-founder Melina Schuh of Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany explained.

In humans, this means exactly 23 chromosomes, Schuh said. However, human eggs frequently contain an abnormal number of chromosomes. The condition, known as aneuploidy, occurs in approximately 25% of eggs from women in their late 20s and in more than 65% of eggs from women approaching age 40.

Aneuploidy usually results in failed implantation, miscarriage or infertility.

The researchers say their treatment improves the accuracy of chromosome segregation during egg maturation by restoring levels of a protective protein involved in the process called Shugoshin 1 (Japanese for “guardian spirit”) to levels seen in eggs from younger women.

“Being able to treat eggs to make (chromosome segregation) work better would be a huge advance,” Professor Richard Anderson, a reproductive medicine specialist at the University of Edinburgh who was not involved in the research, said.

“While we await further details and confirmatory clinical trials, including addressing safety issues, these results have great potential for improving IVF success rates.”

EXPERIMENTAL DRUG PREVENTS, REVERSES LIVER SCARRING

An experimental drug can prevent and reverse metabolic liver disease and liver fibrosis in mice, researchers say.

Fibrosis, the scar tissue that results from chronic inflammation, leads to liver cancer in severe cases. Liver fibrosis can also contribute to risks for heart attack and stroke and can ultimately require liver transplantation.

The new drug, EVT0185 from Michigan-based Espervita Therapeutics, simultaneously targets two enzymes – ACLY and ACSS2 – that control cholesterol synthesis and fat burning.

As a result, harmful matter stops accumulating in the liver and bloodstream and is instead diverted out of the body in urine, the researchers reported in Cell Metabolism.

In Canada, where the research is underway, there are no approved drugs for treating the fatty liver disease metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, which is associated with overweight and obesity and is one of the most common causes of liver fibrosis and liver failure.

“And while two therapies have recently received approval in the U.S. and EU, these agents have only been shown to reduce fibrosis in only about one-third of patients,” study leader Dr. Greg Steinberg of McMaster University, an Espervita co-founder, said in a statement.

The experimental drug has previously shown anti-tumor activity in mice, the researchers noted.

They said they hope to start testing the drug in humans by 2027.

(To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here)

(Reporting by Nancy Lapid; Editing by Bill Berkrot)