A nutraceutical formulation planned for trials in male infertility could also lower miscarriages in women, a study in mice suggests.
A new study of a promising treatment for male infertility has the IVF community buzzing that the treatment may significantly promote fertility in men and also reduce miscarriages in women. But the new treatment isn’t a drug, rather a specific combination of well-known antioxidant ingredients, and is now available without prescription. Although antioxidant treatments are often used by men trying to conceive, there is little quality data supporting specific formulations.
Infertility affects more than 1 in 6 couples of reproductive-age, with male infertility accounting for at least 40% of the cases. One of the tragedies of this situation is that for the vast majority of male patients, the cause of their infertility is unknown. One of the few causative factors to have emerged in recent years has been the general importance of oxidative stress. Environmental factors such as exposure to chemicals or radiation, poor nutrition, infection and lifestyle habits such as smoking all contribute to a high oxidative stress burden within the male reproductive tract that in turn impairs the fertilizing potential of the spermatozoa. Fertilix® is a carefully formulated nutraceutical preparation that directly counters this oxidative damage by supplementing with antioxidants known to be critically important for the maintenance of normal sperm function.
Data from two separate mouse models of oxidative stress-induced male infertility demonstrated that Fertilix® restores pregnancy rates to normality with concomitant reduction of fetal resorption (equivalent to miscarriages in women). It does this by protecting sperm cells, and most importantly the DNA they carry, from oxidation during their development and subsequent storage. Damage to sperm DNA is strongly linked with subfertility/infertility as well as higher rates of miscarriage and the appearance of new genetic mutations in children.
This international study was a collaboration between CellOxess biotechnology in Princeton, NJ, Professor Joël Drevet from University of Clermont in France and Professor Alfonso Gutiérrez-Adán at the University of Madrid. The work was published in “Human Reproduction”, a peer-reviewed scientific journal from University Oxford Press in the January 2016 edition.
Dr. Parviz Gharagozloo, the inventor of Fertilix® formulations commented, “Unfortunately, oxidative stress is often overlooked as a causative factor in male infertility treatment. We firmly believe appropriate treatment of such patients prior to conception will significantly help subfertile or infertile couples to achieve healthier pregnancies”.
Fertilix® is sold in the USA and internationally, specifically made available in three strengths to provide men who have low, moderate or high risks of oxidative stress with a more personalized treatment option. This unique strategy minimizes the risk of over-supplementation, which can result in reductive stress, a phenomenon equally damaging to spermatozoa. IVF Physicians are now coordinating a large multicenter multinational clinical study to confirm that these results translate into humans
Professor John Aitken, a world leader in sperm biology, from University of Newcastle in Australia noted, “if the results observed in mice translate into humans, it will influence clinical practice and provide an inexpensive adjunct therapy to IVF treatment”.
