Mifepristone is an effective oral alternative for the prevention of premature luteinizing hormone surges and/or premature luteinization in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for in vitro fertilization.

The present clinical study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of a daily dose of 40 mg mifepristone in preventing premature LH surges in women undergoing controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) for in vitro fertilization and to study the effect of this antiprogestin cotreatment on endometrial receptivity. This was a prospective, open-label, randomized, exploratory study in 15 healthy volunteer oocyte donors who were randomly allocated to the experimental COH group, including mifepristone (group 1), or the control group, using a long protocol with GnRH agonists (group 2), in a ratio of 2:1, i.e. 10 and five subjects, respectively. In group 1, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) was randomly administered (group 1A) or was withheld (group 1B) at the end of stimulation, so that two subgroups of five subjects each were formed, differing in the final oocyte maturation trigger. In all patients receiving mifepristone, 50 mg progesterone were administered im at the time of hCG administration to counteract residual antiprogestogenic activity of mifepristone. Serum estradiol, progesterone (P), LH, and FSH levels were monitored in each patient on d 3 and 6 and every 48 h thereafter. Endometrial biopsies were taken 2 and 7 d after hCG or P administration. Endometrial tissue was processed and evaluated in a blinded fashion for endometrial dating and quantitative PCR of at least four genes known to be up-regulated in receptive endometrium. The total FSH dose and duration of treatment in the two arms of the study were similar. The mean LH levels on d 6 of stimulation and the day of hCG/P treatment in the mifepristone group were 0.8 +/- 0.7 and 0.5 +/- 0.6 mIU/ml, and those in control subjects were 2.4 +/- 3.8 and 2.0 +/- 1.7 mIU/ml, respectively. No LH surges were observed in any subject treated with mifepristone. Serum P levels on the day of hCG/P were below the cut-off level (1.2 ng/ml) in all subjects of the mifepristone group (range, <0.5 to 1.05 ng/ml). The mean numbers of cumulus-oocyte complexes retrieved were 11.6 +/- 6.6 and 19.6 +/- 11.8 in the subgroup treated with mifepristone and hCG and in the control group, respectively. The mean percentages of metaphase II, metaphase I, and germinal vesicle stage oocytes were 86.2, 6.9, and 3.4% in the mifepristone group and 68.4, 6.1, and 11.2% in the control group. In the mifepristone group that did not receive hCG and received P only at the end of stimulation, an endogenous LH surge was not observed nor were oocytes obtained. Histological evaluation of endometrial samples in patients treated with mifepristone and hCG (group 1A) confirmed normal development, whereas in patients treated with mifepristone only (group 1B), there was a complete arrest of the endometrial maturation. The expression patterns of glycodelin, IGF-binding protein-7, glutathione peroxidase-3, and solute carrier family 1 member 1 show a striking absence of up-regulation in patients treated with mifepristone (groups 1A and 1B) compared with controls (group 2). The results of this exploratory study provide evidence that mifepristone is effective for the prevention of premature LH surges and/or premature luteinization in women undergoing COH for in vitro fertilization. However, endometrial receptivity status requires additional evaluation after decreasing RU-486 doses before this strategy can be considered as a new alternative to GnRH agonist/antagonist treatment.

First live birth after ovarian stimulation using a chimeric long-acting human recombinant follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) agonist (recFSH-CTP) for in vitro fertilization.

OBJECTIVE: To report the first pregnancy and live birth after ovarian stimulation using a chimeric long-acting human recombinant FSH agonist (recFSH-CTP) for IVF. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: Tertiary fertility center. PATIENT(S): A 32-year-old woman with a 7-year history of primary infertility. INTERVENTION(S): Ovarian stimulation with a single SC injection of 180 microg recFSH-CTP on cycle day 3, followed by daily injections of 150 IU recFSH from cycle day 10 onward, combined with daily GnRH antagonist 0.25 mg SC to prevent a premature LH rise. Final oocyte maturation was induced by 10,000 IU hCG. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): First ongoing pregnancy obtained with recFSH-CTP. RESULT(S): Twelve oocytes were retrieved. Ten oocytes were fertilized in vitro by intracytoplasmic sperm injection, and from these 10 oocytes, two embryos were subsequently transferred after 3 days of culture. A pregnancy test 2 weeks after ET was positive, and ultrasound investigation revealed an intact, intrauterine, singleton pregnancy after 12 weeks. CONCLUSION(S): The first pregnancy and live birth was achieved after ovarian stimulation using recFSH-CTP for IVF.

Use of dydrogesterone as a progestogen for oral contraception.

Dydrogesterone is a potent orally active progestogen that has been used in clinical practice for over 40 years. Chemically, it belongs to the class of retrosteroids. Dydrogesterone is closely related to endogenous progesterone. It differs from most other synthetic progestogens in that it has no estrogenic, androgenic, glucocorticoid, or anabolic effects. The use of progestogens such as dydrogesterone is indicated in all cases of relative or absolute endogenous progesterone deficiency. Nowadays, dydrogesterone is mainly used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). The present pilot study explored whether dydrogesterone could also be used as a progestogen for oral contraception. Given its highly favorable safety and tolerability profile, it would provide improvement over existing progestogens currently used in oral contraceptives (OCs). The results of this study indicate that dydrogesterone might indeed be a suitable candidate for use in oral contraception. This concept is currently being investigated further in two open-label phase II trials.

Single dose pharmacokinetics and effects on follicular growth and serum hormones of a long-acting recombinant FSH preparation (FSH-CTP) in healthy pituitary-suppressed females.

BACKGROUND: A long-acting FSH preparation has been developed by site-directed mutagenesis and gene transfer techniques. METHODS: In this open-label trial, we investigated the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of FSH-CTP (corifollitropin alpha, Org 36286) in healthy female volunteers. Twenty-four subjects were treated with a high-dose oral contraceptive (OC) to suppress pituitary function. A single dose of 15, 30 or 60 micro g FSH-CTP was injected (s.c., eight subjects per dose group) and seven of these 24 subjects were subsequently treated with a single dose of 120 micro g. RESULTS: Maximum serum FSH-CTP concentrations (0.42, 0.66, 1.49 and 3.27 ng/ml after administration of 15, 30, 60 and 120 micro g Org 36286 respectively) were reached between 36 and 48 h after injection and t(1/2) varied between 60 and 75 h. Dose proportionality was shown across the studied dose range, whereas t(max) and t(1/2) were dose independent. In most subjects follicular growth was observed; the number and maximum diameter of the follicles increased with the dose. Follicles with a diameter vertical line 8.0 mm were observed only in the 60 and 120 micro g dose groups, diameters between 12.0 and 15.9 mm occurred only in the 120 micro g group. Serum LH and 17beta-oestradiol levels remained low due to profound pituitary suppression whereas inhibin-B levels increased with dose. Maximum mean inhibin-B levels were 30.4, 322.7 and 1059.3 pg/ml in the 30, 60 and 120 micro g dose group respectively. The preparation was safe and well tolerated, and no FSH-CTP antibody formation was observed. CONCLUSIONS: The pharmacokinetics of FSH-CTP were shown to be proportional with the dose. The elimination half-life was approximately two times longer than that of rFSH. A single dose of FSH-CTP was shown to be safe and able to induce multiple follicular growth accompanied by a dose-dependent rise in serum inhibin-B concentrations.

Obstetrical and neonatal outcome after controlled ovarian stimulation for IVF using the GnRH antagonist ganirelix.

BACKGROUND: To establish long-term safety, follow-up data on pregnancy, birth and neonatal outcome were collected during clinical development trials with ganirelix (Orgalutran) in women undergoing controlled ovarian stimulation for conventional IVF or ICSI. METHODS: Results of an analysis of the pooled data of all follow-up data of the phase 2 and 3 programme for the development of ganirelix are presented. Obstetrical data on 340 ongoing pregnancies ( vertical line16 gestational weeks) after ganirelix treatment and 134 pregnancies after GnRH agonist treatment in a long protocol are shown. Furthermore, the neonatal outcome of 432 children [258 (75.9%) singletons, 72 (21.2%) twins and 10 (2.9%) triplets] born in the ganirelix group is presented and compared with 184 children [91 (67.9%) singletons, 36 (26.9%) twins and seven (5.2%) triplets] in the agonist group. RESULTS: There were no differences between the two groups in pregnancy loss after 16 weeks gestation. Incidence and nature of complications during pregnancy and delivery did not differ between the two groups. The overall mean gestational age was approximately 38.0 weeks, ranging from an average of 39 weeks for singletons to 34 weeks for triplets. No major differences were observed in neonatal characteristics of infants in the ganirelix and agonist groups, who had an overall mean birth weight of on average 3200 g for singletons, 2300 g for twins and 1800-1900 g for triplets. Congenital malformations were observed in 32 of 424 (7.5%) fetuses vertical line26 gestational weeks in the ganirelix group and in 10 of 181 (5.5%) in the agonist group. When applying a broad definition of major malformation (a major congenital malformation is a condition that causes functional impairment or requires surgical intervention) the rates were 4.5 versus 3.3 (odds ratio 1.37, 95% confidence interval 0.54-3.48) for the ganirelix and agonist group respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Reviewing the presented data and the literature on obstetric and neonatal outcome after conventional IVF or ICSI, we conclude that a controlled ovarian stimulation protocol including the novel GnRH antagonist ganirelix has been shown to be safe for pregnant women and their newborn babies.