Boston IVF to offer test of women's biological clock in the northeast

Jan 22 2008

Boston IVF has announced it will be the first IVF center in the northeast to offer Repromedix's Plan Ahead test, an innovative blood test that provides an assessment of a woman's egg supply by combining multiple factors including the measurement of ovary-related hormones AMH, Inhibin B, and FSH.

The window of opportunity for a woman to have children by natural conception is dependent upon an adequate supply of eggs which inevitably declines as a woman ages and her "biological clock ticks." Plan Ahead enables a woman to compare her estimated egg supply with the normal range expected for women of the same age.

The Plan Ahead Report provides valuable directional information to women planning to have children after their late twenties. Women with faster biological clocks should seek further advice from fertility experts to help ensure that they can have the families they were hoping for.

Dr. Michael M. Alper, Harvard Medical School professor, and the medical director and co-founder of Boston IVF, an internationally renowned fertility treatment center, commented, "As more and more women delay pregnancy until their 30s and even their 40s, there is an urgent need for an accurate early assessment of their fertility. Unfortunately, we see far too many women late in the process when time is of the essence. The fertility field has been waiting for a test like this, and we are delighted to be the first practice to partner with Repromedix in providing this innovative test to women in the greater Boston area."

"The Plan Ahead test represents an extraordinary advance in fertility diagnostics compared to what has been readily available to the general population," said Dr. Benjamin Leader, Chief Medical Officer, Repromedix Corp. "Many fertility experts view the gold standard of egg supply measurement to be the number of eggs obtained through egg retrieval, an expensive procedure reserved for specialty fertility clinics involving hormone injections and a minimally invasive procedure. The Plan Ahead test offers similar information to the general public via a simple blood test."

Repromedix Corp., the Plan Ahead test co-developer and leading national diagnostic laboratory for fertility testing, chose Boston IVF to be one of a select number of IVF centers to debut the test. Repromedix will expand the Plan Ahead test launch to major markets across the United States throughout 2008.

Plan Ahead is now available to women in the greater Boston area, and women interested in the Plan Ahead test can purchase a test online at http://www.planaheadtest.com/us or at Boston IVF, where they can also have their blood drawn. The blood sample is sent to Repromedix, whose lab performs the advanced testing and submits the report and recommendations to the patient's physician. The cost of the Plan Ahead test is $350.