This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
Lacking evidence for IVF add-on success
Research conducted by Oxford University's Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine has found nearly all add-on treatments offered by UK fertility clinics to increase the chance of conception and birth through IVF are not supported by high quality evidence.
The study found that on average, only 25 per cent of IVF cycles result in a live birth, although many clinics offer add-ons claiming they will boost the chances of having a baby.
The add on treatments included genetic screening tests, additional drugs, blood tests to measure the immune system and special devices to house an embryo and can cost from £100 up to £3,500 each on top of the costs of IVF.
In an interview with Panorama, Professor Carl Heneghan, director of the centre and who led the team, said: "It was one of the worst examples I've ever seen in healthcare.
"The first thing you would expect to happen is that anything that makes a claim for an intervention would be backed up by some evidence.
"Some of these treatments are of no benefit to you whatsoever and some of them are harmful."
However, Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, argued: "Provided we're not causing harm, I don't think that there's any problem with giving patients information... discussing that we don't know yet but there is an evidence base developing."
Responding to the findings, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HEFA) confirmed it was ‘concerned about the recent step change in the use of treatment add-ons’, but that the regulator had ‘limited powers to stop clinics offering them, or to control pricing’.
HEFA also added that it published information directly for patients so they could understand the facts before they visited a clinic.
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