Medical opinion lines up behind Memphasys’ sperm sorting device

Reproductive biotechnology company Memphasys is racking up expert opinion backing the efficacy of its Felix device for improving the outcomes of IVF procedures.

Male infertility is a big factor in failure of IVF treatments, with sperm quality rather than quantity the key issue.

The Felix device uses an electric force and polymer membranes to separate sperm, selecting the best quality, negatively charged sperm for use in the IVF process.

Memphasys updated investors on the results obtained by two key opinion leaders who are among those testing the Felix system in comparison to the effectiveness of the traditional density gradient centrifugation method of selecting sperm most likely to result in successful pregnancy.

Two significant journals – Andrology and the Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics – recently published studies which show the Felix system outperforms the traditional system.

The Andrology article showed the system outperformed in the selection of sperm with low DNA damage.

This article concluded that improved sperm parameters and the ‘very fast and standardised’ Felix results ‘should be of great interest to the assisted reproduction industry’.

The Journal of Assisted Reproduction study, authored by scientists including at Monash IVF, found Felix was ‘a positive technical development capable of isolating suspensions of highly motile spermatozoa in a fraction of the time taken by conventional procedures.’

Picture: Memphasys