United States-based company in the fertility sector, Lavima Fertility Inc has signed an exclusive agreement with IVI RMA Global, in an effort to making progress in the field of hormone-free fertility treatment. In a statement, Lavima Fertility said both companies have opened a pioneering line of research aimed at eliminating ovarian stimulation in women who wish to begin assisted reproduction treatments (ART). Ovarian stimulation is the initial part of ART and the phase of infertility treatments in which the least relevant advances have been achieved to date, as well as one of the main psychological barriers for women when deciding to begin this path towards motherhood, with concerns about how this process may affect them physically and emotionally. 'Avoiding controlled ovarian stimulation together with the trigger hormones in ART represents clearly a great scientific and clinical innovation. 'IVI RMA Global is the largest IVF chain in the world and working together with IVI RMA Global clinics in this fie ld would allow to bring CAPA-IVM to many more patients worldwide in the future,' said Prof Dr Johan Smitz from Lavima Fertility. Meanwhile, IVI Valencia Director Dr Ernesto Bosch said: 'Our main objective is to continue benefitting women through research, and to eliminate the psychological barrier of those who decide not to start treatment, worried about the physical and emotional effect that ovarian stimulation may have on them, although the symptoms associated with this process are usually moderate and pass in a few days.' A clinical study has begun at the IVI Valencia headquarters, in which Lavima Fertility is supporting this study by providing the CAPA-IVM and culture media supplements that allow immature oocytes to mature outside of the women's ovaries in vitro and without the need of ovarian stimulation. This investigation will later be joined by the rest of the IVI RMA Global group's clinics. Through CAPA-IVM, five randomised clinical studies have been conducted in Asia and over 850 babies have been born already using this novel hormone free fertility treatment technology, underlying the safety of CAPA-IVM. Founded in 2020 as a spin-off from the Free University of Brussels (VUB), Lavima Fertility owns the worldwide exclusive licence to the CAPA-IVM technology which was originally developed at VUB by Prof Johan Smitz and co-workers. Source: BERNAMA News Agency