Inception Fertility Partners with Leading Technology Companies on Breakthrough Studies to Advance Reproductive Medicine

North America's largest fertility provider leans into new technologies to help evolve and improve the fertility experience, pregnancy outcomes

HOUSTON, Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its mission to lead advancements in reproductive science and medicine, Inception Fertility™ (Inception) announced today its clinical research team has partnered with leading technology companies on four fertility studies that will elevate the patient experience, evolve fertility services, and enhance pregnancy outcomes.

Led by Alice Domar, PhD, Chief Compassion Officer at Inception, the clinical research team is designed to give Inception tools to better understand and treat a greater range of fertility issues, while empowering aspiring parents through improved education and more precise treatment options.

Inception is the largest provider of fertility services and practices in North America. Through its ancillary brands, including The Prelude Network®, Inception serves as a mechanism to draw participants from its ecosystem of companies to take part in groundbreaking studies that will elevate sciences and advancements in assisted reproductive technologies.

"Inception proudly leads the industry once again through thoughtful and impactful studies that will help us, and the entire fertility community, understand some of the most complex aspects of fertility care, including mental health," says TJ Farnsworth, Founder and CEO of Inception Fertility. "Our partnerships with leading technology companies allow us to keep fertility patients, including their experiences and outcomes, at the center of our mission."

Current studies include the OTO Device Research Study, Gameto Research Study, Lotus Research Study, and Oura Research Study, all which can be found at fertilitystudies.com.

OTO Device Research Study

OTO and Inception are partnering on a groundbreaking study to investigate what impact stress has on IVF cycle outcomes.

"While we know that stress is part of infertility, we need to better understand the impact it has on treatment outcomes," says Dr. Domar. "This study will give greater insight and clarity into the stress-fertility connection, leading to potential new therapeutics, services, and resources that will improve the fertility journey, including the patient experience and pregnancy rates."

OTO has a 30-year history of innovation using electrophysiology for health and wellness. OTO provides a scientific, one-of-a-kind, psycho-physiological program for building resilience to stress. Through advanced sensor technology, the OTO device tracks and evaluates 54 physical responses to stress, with medical grade accuracy, providing users real time, proven, patented solutions based on individual physiological data. 

"OTO is committed to providing patient centric solutions that alleviates some of the pain points in infertility treatment," says Caleb Evans, CEO and co-founder of OTO, "We are thrilled to partner with Inception, Dr. Domar and their world class research team to advance our global understanding of infertility issues and the potential for new treatment options."

The OTO research study is open to women ages 25-40, who are scheduled to undergo their first, fresh IVF cycle at a participating fertility clinic. During the study, participants take daily measurements regarding physiological changes associated with stress, such as heart and brain activity, using an OTO device and a smartphone app. To learn more about sign-up and eligibility requirements, please visit fertilitystudies.com/oto.

Gameto Research Study

Inception and Gameto, a new biotechnology company dedicated to developing therapies that improve women's lives, launched a study to validate a biologic to improve IVF and egg freezing. This product can mature and improve the quality of immature oocytes outside of the body and increase the number of mature oocytes for IVF/egg freezing while facilitating a lower hormonal burden and/or duration of the process.

"Gameto is excited to partner with Inception, a proven leader in reproductive medicine and services, to help move the industry forward for the benefit of aspiring parents and assisted reproductive technologies," says Dr. Dina Radenkovic, CEO of Gameto.  "The findings of this study may improve and shorten the duration of treatment protocols, while also enabling more women to access assisted reproduction services, particularly egg freezing – one of the most effective interventions currently available to combat age-related decline in ovarian function."

Currently, only 17% of eggs matured outside the body, a process known as IVM, result in pregnancy. This product may improve maturation of oocytes in a dish and thus increase oocyte number and quality and allow for a reduction in the amount of stimulation medication needed during an IVF cycle.

Those patients who are planning an egg retrieval at a participating Prelude clinic are invited to participate by donating their discarded immature eggs for research. To learn more about sign-up and eligibility requirements, please visit fertilitystudies.com/gameto-study.

Lotus Study

Inception and Alife Health, a fertility technology company building AI tools designed to improve IVF outcomes, announce the launch of the LOTUSstudy, a research project designed to investigate whether the Alife Hera System can help clinicians prioritize embryos for transfer.

Currently, embryos are prioritized for transfer on the basis of genetic testing and a morphological grading system, where the grade is assigned by an embryologist. While morphological grading systems have been around for many years and have achieved widespread adoption, they are prone to inter- and intra-user variability. Using a deep learning AI model for ranking embryos, the Alife Hera System systematically analyzes the morphological characteristics of embryos deemed suitable for transfer, combines this with patient-specific factors, and generates a rank and prioritization of embryos for transfer based on their predicted likelihood of leading to a clinical pregnancy.

"Alife is thrilled to partner with Inception Fertility, an innovator in IVF services, to research the ways in which technology can help advance the field," says Paxton Maeder-York, CEO of Alife. "Our hope is that the results of the LOTUS study will demonstrate how AI can support clinical decision making and ultimately improve success rates."

To learn more about Alife's products and research, please visit alifehealth.com. To learn more about sign-up and eligibility requirements, please visit fertilitystudies.com/lotus.

Oura Research Study

Earlier this year, Inception announced a partnership with wearable health platform on ŌURA, a leading-edge research study that observes the physiological changes that occur throughout the menstrual cycle using the Gen2 Oura Ring.

ŌURA is the company behind the Oura Ring — a smart ring that combines advanced sensor technology with an easy-to-use mobile app to deliver accurate, personalized health data and insights, including heart rate monitoring, temperature trends, activity, and sleep analysis.    

"Women's health is historically underserved, and ŌURA is committed to advancing reproductive health research," said Neta Gotlieb, Lead Clinical Research Scientist at ŌURA. "We are proud to work with the Inception team as they utilize our technology to learn more about female reproductive health and help women around the world uncover meaningful health patterns."    

The Oura Research Study is open to those between 18-42 years of age who have a menstrual cycle. To learn more about sign-up and eligibility requirements, please visit fertilitystudies.com/oura.

About Inception Fertility™

Inception Fertility™ (Inception) is a family of fertility brands committed to helping patients build their own families.  Built by patients for patients, Inception's purpose is to achieve the highest bar in experience, science and medicine in an effort to enhance each patient's experience and achieve better outcomes.

Inception's medical experts are leading pioneers in fertility care.  Our doctors are some of the first to use breakthrough assisted reproductive technologies (ART) – including in vitro fertilization (IVF), preimplantation genetic testing (PGT) and fertility preservation services – and they continue to lead the industry by building on these technologies by through development, research and thought leadership.

Through its growing family of national organizations – which includes The Prelude Network®, the fastest-growing network of fertility clinics and largest provider of comprehensive fertility services in the U.S.; Pathways Fertility, clinics that provide affordable, individualized and high quality care; MyEggBank, one of the largest frozen donor egg banks in North America; Bundl Fertility, LLC (Bundl), a multi-cycle fertility service bundling program; HavenCryo™, a long-term reproductive preservation and storage solution provider and NutraBloom, a premium lifestyle brand with expertly formulated supplements to support individuals' health and wellness goals for preconception – Inception is working to deliver on its promise to push the envelope of what is possible for exceeding patient expectations.

About The Prelude Network®

The Prelude Network® (Prelude), the fastest-growing network of fertility clinics and largest provider of comprehensive fertility services in North America, is the clinic network of Inception Fertility™ – a family of fertility brands that touches every part of the fertility journey, including diagnostics and treatment to financial accessibility Each clinic, as part of the Prelude Network, is committed to delivering the highest level of personalized fertility care by the nation's leading reproductive endocrinologists, embryologists and practitioners by focusing on an excellence in science, medicine and the patient experience.  The growing Prelude Network has over 40 total locations nationwide, offering a wide range of fertility services including egg freezing, IVF, genetic testing and egg/embryo storage, among others.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Mia Humphreys
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SOURCE Inception Fertility