Our Science: White papers
Men, the Forgotten Half of Infertility:
How Igyxos is Rewriting the Treatment Paradigm for Couples
By:
Florent Ferré, Chief Executive Officer,
Igyxos Biotherapeutics
​
Sylvie Bove, Chairwoman of the Board and Independent Director,
Igyxos Biotherapeutics
Executive Summary
Governments around the world are alarmed at declining birth rates and the long-term, damaging effects the resulting population declines will have on their economies.
Infertility is one of several factors contributing to the decline, and IVF is regarded as the gold standard for treating it. Yet, since the introduction of IVF over 40 years ago, there has been no innovation in the fertility space – only incremental advances to the prevailing IVF paradigm. Women still bear the physical burdens of painful, costly and exhausting IVF procedures that offer low chances of success after one cycle and no guarantees of success even after multiple cycles – regardless of the fact that approximately half of fertility problems in couples are related to the male partner. An increasing body of data highlights ongoing alarming declines in sperm counts and motility over the past 50 years. But men’s fertility has been ignored or overlooked due to lack of awareness, social stigma, and a gender bias that continues to frame infertility as a “women’s issue.” While ICSI addresses male infertility indirectly, it still leaves women with the treatment burden, and there are no therapies that directly boost male fertility.
Igyxos is emerging as the true challenger in a space that has seen no real innovation in decades.
This clinical-stage biotech is pioneering a completely novel approach for infertility: a potentiating antibody that enhances gametogenesis in both men and women, thus improving the odds of success for IVF or ICSI, regardless of whose fertility is at issue. Igyxos believes it’s high time that fertility was recognized as the couples’ issue it really is. That’s why the company is rewriting the treatment paradigm for infertile couples.