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The UK’s fertility watchdog is becoming “increasingly concerned” that private clinics are offering ‘add-on’ treatments which have not been properly tested to see if they actually work, it can be revealed.
In a series of interviews with The Independent, leading experts variously claimed some clinics were giving out “expensive, potentially harmful stuff like Smarties”, announcing breakthroughs that were closer to marketing “hype” and that half of the people treated did not actually need any help to have a baby.
A Cambridge university immunologist also said the use of immune-suppressant drugs by clinics was based on a flawed theory that this could help prevent miscarriage and broke the medical maxim to “first do no harm”.
Other techniques questioned by several experts include pre-implantation genetic screening, intrauterine insemination for women with unexplained infertility, and the use of time-lapse photography. The cost of such treatments can run into tens of thousands of pounds.
Despite regular announcements of new techniques, progress has been relatively modest. In the 10 years to 2013, the average birth rate following IVF rose from about 20 per...