A new tablet could help improve the odds of successful IVF treatment, scientists have said after initial trials showed “promising” results. Researchers set out to test whether the drug, which has a direct effect on the inner lining of the womb, can improve the embryo implantation process during fertility treatment. The pill, known as OXO-001 and created by Spanish biotech company Oxolife, is the first of its kind and had already gone through safety checks in early studies – known as pre-clinical trials.
The new study found the drug raised a woman’s odds of pregnancy. Some 96 infertile women aged 40 and under who were receiving fertility treatment – either IVF or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) with donor eggs – at 28 centres across Europe were enrolled in the study between September 2021 and January 2023. They were either given a dummy drug, also known as a placebo, or OXO-001 – taken twice daily one menstrual cycle before the embryo transfer and five weeks after.
Researchers found “ongoing pregnancy rates” measured 10 weeks after embryo transfer were 46.3% for patients treated with OXO-001 compared to 35.7% for those given a placebo.
This is a “clinically significant finding”, academics said presenting their study to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology’s (ESHRE) 40th annual meeting in Amsterdam. There was also a clinically meaningful increase in the number of mothers who went on to have a live birth, they said. The live b.