Now couples can take a pill to help them have a child as a boost for childless parents-to-be struggling to conceive due to expensive IVF treatments

A pill for couples who have difficulty conceiving through IVF increases the chance of pregnancy.

Clinical studies have shown that this increases the chance of a fertilized egg implanting in the uterus.

While the pill still needs further testing and regulatory approval before it can be marketed, scientists said the results are “very good news” for childless couples.

IVF treatment costs between £5,000 and £10,000 for private individuals. By reducing the number of cycles, more couples can realise their dream of parenthood.

It could also lead to a reduction in costs for the NHS, which provides a limited amount of IVF for infertile couples, although this varies by region.

The study examined women under the age of 40 who were using IVF or ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection), a technique similar to IVF in which a single sperm cell is injected into an egg before it is implanted.

The new pill increased the chance of a live birth by 6.9 percent: 42.6 percent of women in the study gave birth, compared with 35.7 percent of women who took a placebo.

The pill was presented at the annual conference of the European Society for Human Reproduction (ESHRE) in Amsterdam.

Donor eggs were used to test the pill, called OXO-001, because it is thought that there is less variation in the quality of donor eggs compared to the woman’s own eggs.

Spanish biotechnology company Oxolife is now planning a larger study in women using their own eggs.

Most fertility treatments use a woman’s own eggs. In 2019, 86 percent of IVF cycles used a woman’s own eggs and her partner’s sperm, according to the Human Fertility and Embryology Authority.

According to Oxolife, the new pill is non-hormonal and works on the lining of the uterus, allowing the embryo to ‘penetrate’ this lining.

While the pill still needs further testing and regulatory approval before it can be made available, scientists said the results are “very good news” for childless couples (stock photo)

ESHRE Chair Professor Karen Sermon, who was not involved in the research, said: ‘An increase of almost seven percentage points is very good news for our patients, and hopefully this can be confirmed in larger patient groups.’

Agnes Arbat, CEO of Oxolife, said: ‘Most rounds of IVF or ICSI still fail – often because a viable embryo does not implant. An easy-to-take pill that significantly increases the chance of success would therefore be of great benefit to those who want a baby.’

“This Phase 2 proof-of-concept study shows that hope is now one step closer.”

She added: ‘This study was purposefully designed to include only women using donor eggs so that the true effect of OXO-001 on the endometrium could be established.

However, we are confident that OXO-001 can work just as well in patients using their own eggs, which is why we are already planning a pivotal phase three clinical trial.’