New Survey Reveals Most Patients Are Unaware That Slaughterhouse-Derived Animal Products Are Used in a Majority of IVF Procedures

ARLINGTON, Va., and SAN DIEGO, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ --
The International Council on Infertility Information Dissemination (INCIID) and Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc. (Amex: HTI), a biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing recombinant human enzymes, today announced the results of a survey designed to determine in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients' level of awareness of lab practices surrounding intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) procedures on their eggs.

While over 82 percent of the 168 survey respondents are generally aware that there are a number of procedures performed on their eggs after retrieval, only 8 percent are aware that many IVF clinics use slaughterhouse-derived animal extract products (from bovine and ovine sources) to treat eggs prior to the ICSI procedure. More than 89 percent of respondents do not know that the use of animal extract products may have a potential impact on the outcome of an IVF cycle, such as fertilization rates and quality of embryos, for example. Fifty-seven percent of IVF procedures performed in the U.S. are ICSI or include ICSI.

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