Spain is the european leader in fertility treatment for women older than 35 years old, with 45.3 % of women treated, above other countries such as UK (40.9%), Germany (40.6%), Italy (40%) or France (33.9%). Moreover, according to gynaecologist Ernesto Bosch, from the Instituto Valenciano de Infertilidad (IVI), around 30 % of these women are older than 40 years old. Bosch is one of the specialists involved in Merck Serono´s new ovarian stimulation treatment, “Pergoveris”.

Dr Bosch affirms that Spanish women are, on an average of 31 years old, the eldest in age that visit experts in fertility. The fact is that Spain is the European country with the most women around 35 and where women become mothers later in life, which makes it harder for them to get pregnant, since after 30, women’s eggs are “fewer and poorer in quality”, according to the expert.

“Pergoveris” provides, as Dr Bosch puts it, “a tool” to optimize the techniques used to achieve pregnancies in more mature women: the hormones combination that “Pergoveris” allows makes getting better quality eggs easier.

“Production of FSH and LH hormones in women diminishes with the proximity of menapause and the combination of both hormones facilitates ovarian stimulation in the patient, increasing success rates in between eight and ten points”, states Dr Bosch. Between 3 and 5 % of the nearly 50,000 births per year in Spain - about 1,500- are achieved trough in vitro fertilization.