British Company Expected To Launch Hormone Test To Determine Number of 'Viable' Eggs in Ovaries

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 18 Oct 2005 - 19:00 PDT

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The British company Biofusion in January is expected to begin selling a test in the United Kingdom that measures the levels of three hormones to predict how many "viable" eggs a woman has left, BBC News reports. The test -- which will be available in the United Kingdom to doctors and pharmacists and also might be offered by mail -- measures the levels of two hormones found in the ovaries that drop as menopause nears and a hormone found in the brain that increases as menopause nears. By analyzing the three hormone levels over time, it might be possible to determine how close a woman is to menopause, according to BBC News (BBC News, 10/13). Lifestyle Choices, which is owned by Biofusion, developed the test based on research by Bill Ledger, a fertility expert and professor at the University of Sheffield (Johnston, London's Times, 10/13). The test will give women more control over their fertility by showing where they are in the "cycle of fertility," Biofusion CEO David Baynes said, adding, "There is a huge amount of public interest ... around the decisions women make about when to have a family." Clare Brown, CEO of Infertility Network UK, said that while the test is a good tool to help give "an indication of [a woman's] current fertility in terms of how many viable eggs" she has, it is important to remember that "ovarian reserve is not the only aspect of a woman's fertility which may have an effect on whether or not she is able to conceive" (Gray, Scotsman, 10/13). The cost of the test has not been announced, London's Times reports (Times, 10/13).

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