Revolutionary new tools for Assisted Reproductive
Technologies (ART)
Biocoat's immobilized hyaluronan technology is being put to use in several important developments in the field of human reproduction. Biocoat has developed two promising approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of male infertility.
Facts:
One in six couples worldwide
experience some form of infertility
In 40% of the cases the problem is due to the
male.
New
PICSITM Sperm Selection Device
Biocoat's new PICSI
Sperm Selection Device offers significant advantages in selecting sperm for the ICSI (Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection) method of in vitro fertilization.
In the ICSI procedure, an individual sperm
is selected and injected into a oocyte. Until now, the only
technique available to embryologists to select the sperm has
been visual observation. With Biocoat’s new PICSI Sperm
Selection Device embryologists are able to determine sperm
selection in much the same way it happens in human biology.
Sperm is placed in Biocoat’s laboratory PICSI dish containing samples of hyaluronan hydrogel. Hyaluronan is a naturally occurring biopolymer found in all human cells, including the gel layer surrounding the oocyte.
Mature, biochemically competent sperm bind to the hyaluronan where they can be isolated by the embryologist and used for ICSI. The Biocoat device actually mimics a key step in the natural fertilization process, the binding of mature sperm to the oocyte complex. As a result, the selected sperm is essentially the same as one that would be successful in the natural reproductive process.
Dr. Gabor Huszar
of the Yale School of Medicine is the inventor of the PICSI
technique. His research proved that hyaluronan-bound
PICSI-selected sperm are, in the vast majority of cases, more mature, exhibit less DNA damage, and have fewer chromosomal aneuploidies.
In the long run it is thought that the use
of the new PICSI technique should improve pregnancy rates and
reduce the number of IVF miscarriages. Albert J. Peters, D.O.,
F.A.C.O.G., stated, "We believe that
the PICSI device could have significant clinical importance to our ICSI patients."
HBA® Sperm-Hyaluronan Binding Assay
The HBA Sperm-Hyaluronan Binding Assay is an important new tool for urologists, sperm banks, embryologists, fertility clinics that can be used to diagnose previously unexplained male infertility and to select the best course of treatment when Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) is indicated.
The HBA assay makes it possible to by-pass in vitro fertilization (IVF) in cases where the lack of mature sperm predicts that approach would be unproductive. In those cases, one can move earlier to other techniques, such as intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) avoiding needless and unproductive IVF cycles which are burdensome, cost up to $10,000, and result in needlessly delaying the start of pregnancy.
The HBA assay is easier to use, less expensive and more reliable than any other assay currently in use.
Distribution &
Marketing
The marketing and distribution of the HBA Sperm-Hyaluronan
Binding Assay and the PICSI Sperm Selection Device is being handled by Mid-Altantic Diagnostics, Inc. in Mount Laurel, NJ. For more information contact Leo McNamara at 800-648-1151.
