In Vitro Fertilization Press Release

Southern California fertility expert:

Nobel Prize for IVF yields new perspective on advances Recipient’s award is a stark reminder of how quickly the fertility treatment has become mainstream, says Pacific Reproductive Center’s Dr. Rifaat Salem TORRANCE, CALIFORNIA (October 5, 2010) – The announcement that a pioneer of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) for humans has won the Nobel prize for medicine three decades after his groundbreaking work adds new historical perspective to advancements in reproductive medicine, a sharp reminder of how a once-feared technology has transformed into a highly popular and routine treatment for infertility, said one of Southern California’s earliest fertility doctors. “By helping bring the first IVF baby into the world in 1978, Dr. Edwards and Dr. Steptoe helped spark a worldwide wave of opposition to the new technology,” said Rifaat Salem M.D., Ph.D., Medical Director and Founder of Pacific Reproductive Center, based in Torrance, California. “Yet none of the fears of cloned humans and so-called genetically engineered super humans have ever become reality.” Instead, Dr. Salem noted, parents worldwide have used the IVF technique to give birth to more than 4 million babies.

“Of course, there remains reason for healthy skepticism about misuse of any technology, and there should always be such caution,” he said. “At the same time, advancements in reproductive technology have brought much joy to millions without ethical compromise, while also dramatically improving pregnancy-success rates and healthier babies in the years since.”

In the 1970s the work of biologist Robert Edwards and obstetrician Patrick Steptoe in the United Kingdom led to the birth in 1978 Louise Brown, the first so-called “test-tube baby.”

At the time, the birth caused outcries from parties as diverse as the Vatican and British politician. Just as In Vitro Fertilization was becoming more mainstream a decade later, Steptoe died in 1988. Early in Stockholm today the Nobel Committee announced Edwards as the winner of its 2010 prize for Physiology or Medicine.

In the 21st century, in vitro pregnancy rates continue to soar far beyond those in the first decade of IVF, when most women had a 5 to 10 percent chance of conceiving through IVF. Today, the national average is better than one in three, and at Pacific Reproductive Center, in 2008 the chance was 40 percent for women of ages 35 to 37.

Since 1993, the development of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) allowed for the treatment of male factor infertility, and recent forays into donated human eggs and genetic screening have mushroomed in popularity among couples who not long ago would likely have not been candidates for In Vitro Fertilization.