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			Concern Treatment Pregnancy Experiences Treatment The Doctor's Visit Personalised Treatment What is Recombinant? What is Filled By Mass? Female Treatments Male Treatments Implications of Treatment Enhance Your Well-being Questions to Ask Your Doctor Treatment FAQ Contact Your Doctor		Personalised Treatment What is personalised treatment and why is it so successful?   Well, firstly we need to look at how and why fertility treatments have changed over the last 20 years or so. Variability of other treatments Many variables affect the ability to achieve pregnancy, and only some of them can be attributed to the fertility drugs being used. Firstly, success, in terms of pregnancy, is dependent upon multitude of factors, such as: Age of the patient Nature of the infertility problem Laboratory techniques (affecting the number of embryos available)  Embryo transfer technique Embryo-uterus compatibility Type of drug stimulation (affecting the number of oocytes, or eggs, recovered)               Over the years, Improvements to fertility drug preparations containing FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone) have focused on controlling these variables to improve the likelihood of pregnancy, for example:  An elimination of contaminant proteins A significant increase in batch-to-batch consistency A drastic improvement in the specific activity A clear increase in the level of purity A removal of infectious risk                Two aspects of fertility treatment are key to improving ovarian stimulation and a patient's chance of becoming pregnant: Effective fertility drugs for precise control over ovarian stimulation. The ability to tailor treatment to meet individual patients' needs.               It is the latter that has made the real difference in the last twenty years or so, and where the future of infertility treatment currently lies. Up until the early 1980s, infertility hormones were solely extracted and purified from the urine of post-menopausal women. Many thousands of couples successfully use hormones made this way. Since the early 80s, however, there have been two significant developments in hormone production that have contributed to the ability to tailor treatments and achieve higher pregnancy success rates. These two key developments are: Recombinant technology  In the early 1980s, it was discovered that hormones could be produced by a process involving recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). This discovery, known as Recombinant Technology, was the catalyst for a new focus in the treatment of infertility and, while it is consistent and easier to control than extraction and purification, it requires massive investments in sophisticated technology to achieve it.      Tell me more. Filled By Mass  The second was the recent development of a new manufacturing process for recombinant hormones, called Filled by Mass. The Filled by Mass process means that the older processes based on rat bioassays can now be replaced with more accurate methodologies, based on filling vials by weight in micrograms, providing high batch-to-batch consistency.      Tell me more. Timeline: Advances in Hormone Production
			© 2003-2008 Merck Serono S.A. Please read our Legal Statement. US residents should consult the Serono, Inc. fertility website at www.fertilitylifelines.com Last updated: 14/05/2008