Bay Area Women Sought for Egg Free...( Reproductive Science Center of the Sa...),Health

Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay research seeks couples

with male factor infertility

SAN RAMON, Calif., Sept. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Reproductive Science Center of the San Francisco Bay Area, in cooperation with ViaCell, Inc., has been awarded a research grant to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of ViaCyte, an investigational product intended to broaden reproductive options for women through freezing and thawing of human eggs (oocytes). RSC's IVF and Medical Director Dr. Louis Weckstein is the principal clinical investigator.

The study seeks couples with male factor infertility who want to achieve pregnancy. Female participants must be healthy, between the ages of 21 and 35, and must not have had more than one previous miscarriage or more than one failed in vitro fertilization (IVF) attempt. The couple must be willing to undergo egg retrieval with an egg freeze and thaw, after which they will undergo intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and embryo transfer in order to achieve pregnancy. Women enrolling in this study will have their procedures performed at RSC and should anticipate a time commitment of approximately 12-months (three to four months for a standard IVF cycle, cryopreservation and thaw of oocytes, embryo transfer, and up to nine months for the resulting pregnancy follow-up). There is no cost to any enrolled patients for their treatment in the course of this study.

Human oocyte cryopreservation or egg freezing has been investigated since the 1980's and has been used experimentally in certain IVF populations, in women who are undergoing cancer treatments who are at risk of losing their fertility, and in women choosing to preserve their fertility. There is currently no FDA-cleared product offered for oocyte cryopreservation. For more information regarding the study, please visit http://www.rscbayarea.com or call 925.973.5012.

A
'/>"/>