Patented approach uses progesterone, the hormone long thought as ovulation blocker, to trigger it
HOUSTON, Oct. 23, 2026 — A U.S. patent has been granted covering the use of progesterone to trigger ovulation.
U.S. Patent No. 12,734,179 B2, titled Progesterone formulation to trigger ovulation and provide luteal phase support, was issued September 15, 2026. The inventors are Michael P. Diamond and Dmitri Dozortsev. The patent is assigned to Augusta University Research Institute, Inc. and Vitrovita LLC of Houston, Texas.
For decades, the conventional model of the human menstrual cycle has held that a sustained rise in estradiol provides the principal positive-feedback signal leading to the luteinizing hormone, or LH, surge, while progesterone blocks LH release during the luteal phase and pregnancy. However, attempts to use estradiol as an ovulation trigger in reproductive-age women did not reliably produce ovulation.
Because no physiological trigger has been available, clinical practice uses human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG - the only medication specifically approved by the FDA as an ovulation trigger - or a GnRH agonist. Neither is the body’s own signal, and both are typically followed by luteal-phase support in IVF.
In a 2020 review in Fertility and Sterility, Dozortsev and Diamond proposed a different interpretation of the accumulated physiological evidence: that during a short window toward the end of the follicular phase, progesterone itself elicits the LH surge, while the action of estradiol is secondary, serving as a backup.
In 2023, Villar, Tralik, Diamond, Allon, Maldonado and Dozortsev published two case reports in the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics showing ovulation following administration of progesterone and reporting the first published live birth following progesterone-triggered ovulation. The successful cycle produced a functional corpus luteum and required only minimal luteal support, raising the possibility that supplemental luteal support could eventually become unnecessary.
Progesterone is already approved for use in fertility treatment, is inexpensive, and has a long history of clinical use—factors that could shorten the development pathway for this new indication. The patent covers multiple routes of progesterone administration for triggering ovulation, including oral and injectable formulations.
“The physiological trigger of ovulation has been hiding in plain sight for decades,” said Dozortsev, a reproductive physiologist. “For the first time, we may have a truly physiological way to trigger ovulation and create a competent corpus luteum.”
“We hope this patent will help generate pharmaceutical interest and support the clinical trials needed to develop progesterone for this new indication and bring it into clinical practice,” Diamond said.
The new patent represents a translational milestone rather than the completion of clinical development. Prospective studies will be needed to establish optimal dose and timing, characterize the resulting hormonal response, define appropriate patient populations, determine whether luteal support can be reduced or eliminated, and compare clinical outcomes with established ovulation-triggering approaches.
U.S. Patent
U.S. Patent No. 12,734,179 B2
Progesterone formulation to trigger ovulation and provide luteal phase support
Issued: September 15, 2026
Inventors: Michael P. Diamond and Dmitri Dozortsev
U.S. Application No.: 17/757,882
Assignees: Augusta University Research Institute, Inc. and Vitrovita LLC of Houston, Texas
Selected Publications
Dozortsev DI, Diamond MP. Luteinizing hormone-independent rise of progesterone as the physiological trigger of the ovulatory gonadotropins surge in the human. Fertility and Sterility. 2020;114(2):191–199. doi:10.1016/j.fertnstert.2020.06.016
Villar L, Tralik B, Diamond MP, Allon M, Maldonado I, Dozortsev DI. Ovulation and birth after administration of progesterone trigger—two case reports. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. 2023;40(5):1037–1044. doi:10.1007/s10815-023-02750-x
About Michael P. Diamond, MD
Michael P. Diamond, MD, is a reproductive-medicine physician-scientist and co-inventor of the progesterone-trigger approach. He is Director of the Georgia Research Institute for Translational Science (GRITS), Leon Henri Charbonnier Endowed Chair in Reproductive Endocrinology, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Augusta University.
About Dmitri Dozortsev, MD, PhD
Dmitri Dozortsev, MD, PhD, is a reproductive physiologist whose work focuses on human follicular development, ovulation physiology, egg quality, and translational fertility.
About Vitrovita LLC and Translational Fertility LLC
Vitrovita LLC holds Dozortsev’s interest in the progesterone-trigger intellectual property. Translational Fertility LLC is his Houston-based consulting company.
Media and Scientific Inquiries
Gwendolyne Rutledge-Dozortsev
Translational Fertility LLC
Houston, Texas
contact@translationalfertility.com
(469) 915-3989
