Fertility experts to guide development of uterine monitoring product
Fertility experts to guide development of uterine monitoring product
Southampton, UK, April 3, 2019 – VivoPlex Group Ltd, a leader in real time and accurate intra-uterine monitoring, has established an international Scientific Advisory Board to help optimise the development and launch of its uterine biosensor. The Board, chaired by VivoPlex co-founder Professor Nicholas Macklon, comprises five experts across human reproduction and fertility technology.
VivoPlex’s wireless battery-free sensor monitors three influential parameters in the uterine environment - temperature, pH and oxygen level - for the optimisation of fertility and uterine health. The product is anticipated to have a significant impact on low IVF success rates which currently stand at 25-30%.
Scientific Advisory Board Chairman Professor Macklon is Medical Director of the London Women’s Clinic, and Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Copenhagen. He is an expert on human implantation and infertility, and is joined on the Advisory Board by:
- Professor David Gardner, a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne and Scientific Director at Melbourne IVF, Australia. He is an embryology expert;
- Professor Roy Homburg, Professor of Reproductive Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London, and Head of Research at the Homerton Fertility Centre, Homerton University Hospital, London and the Hewitt Fertility Centre at the Liverpool Women’s Hospital. He specialises in treating infertility in general and IVF;
- Dr Dean Morbeck, Scientific Director of Fertility Associates, New Zealand, and Honorary Lecturer in Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Auckland. He is recognised as an authority on the quality of products used in clinical embryology; and
- Dr Mitchell P Rosen, Director of the University of California at San Francisco fertility preservation programme and reproductive laboratories, and Associate Professor. His clinical work and research are focused on fertility preservation techniques and optimisation of IVF outcomes.
The Scientific Advisory Board will be expanded in due course, particularly as VivoPlex’s biosensor work in areas such as livestock monitoring and animal welfare develops.
Joanna Smart, CEO of VivoPlex, said ‘The Scientific Advisory Board will be an invaluable resource for us as our intra-uterine sensor moves through the next stages of clinical and product development. Their scientific and clinical expertise, combined with their global networks of key opinion leaders, will contribute significantly to VivoPlex’s progress. I’d like to welcome the five members of the Scientific Advisory Board and thank them for their commitment to the company.’
VivoPlex is a spin-out from the University of Southampton, and recently closed a £3m Series A fundraising round for further development of the intra-uterine monitor. The product is expected to enter a clinical feasibility study (supported by the UK NIHR’s i4i Programme in a joint project with the University of Southampton) later this year.
High-resolution photos of the Scientific Advisory Board are available on request.
For further information, please contact:
Joanna Smart, CEO
Emma Palmer Foster, Communications Tel: +44 (0) 7880 787185
info@vivoplex.com
Notes to editors
VivoPlex Group Ltd
VivoPlex is a leader in real time and accurate intra-uterine monitoring for the optimisation of fertility treatment and uterine health – transforming fertility through precision medicine. Its product is in development as the first insertable wireless device for the measurement of key uterine parameters - oxygen concentration, pH and temperature - in vivo. Better understanding of these levels in humans in real time and over the long term should enable improvement of the success rate of fertility treatment, currently 25-30%. Around 12% of women wishing to have a child experience subfertility, and the IVF market is growing at a CAGR of 11% (Allied Market Research 2017), driven by factors such as rising age at which women are having children and increasing disposable income globally. The VivoPlex product comprises an insertable monitor no bigger than an intra-uterine device (IUD or coil) plus a wearable in the form of washable, discreet briefs which provides wireless power to the device and transmits data to proprietary software for use by the fertility specialist. It has generated positive results in early studies, and has potential in a range of other applications. The company, which brings together a multidisciplinary team of clinical fertility experts and world-class biosensor and digital technology engineers with experienced corporate and business development executives, was established in 2015 as a spin-out from the University of Southampton. For more information please visit www.vivoplex.com.