Male Fertility Drug - Menevit

[Mon]

As some of you know my DH has dodgy sperm or to not be so harsh and more technical - triple sperm defect (OK that sounds just as bad). Anyway triple sperm defect means he has low sperm count, bad morphology (shape and motility) and damaged DNA structure.

FS recommended ICSI for us as our solution to conceive. He was also instructed to improve his antioxidants by drinking black tea (4 p/day), 3 glasses of freshly squeezed OJ p.day. No smoking and no alcohol - if any max of 3 glasses of red wine p/week. Daily ejaculating. Doesnt sound too hard when you have to compare it to all the drugs you have to do on IVF. Well anyway lets say something that DH hasn't managed to stick to it entirely, but willing to keep trying (in his own way). I know there are lots of different therapies out there.

Anyway in doing our research found that there is a drug called Menevit which will be distributed by Bayer (and starting to be rolled out across Aust).Quick background is that at Dr from Repromed in SA came up with the drug (includes a whole bunch of antioxidants and vitamins etc). There is a fair bit of info on google if you type in Menevit. They have been trialling it for the past 3 years and have gotten some good results. Esp with women undergoing IVF that end up with low quality embies (me) when grown out to blasty or miscarry. It seems like a dream come true based on outcomes of trial (well rates of conception / carrying a child increased) and we are willing to try it.

Just wondering if anyone was part of this clinical trial or have used Menevit and what there thoughts are. I believe there are some chemists that stock it (mainly in SA and it aint that expensive - not when you consider the cost of IVF and all the other alternative therapies that go along with it).

Keen to try whatever to improve our chances and have that BFP!

Here is an article on Menevit I thought I would paste in:

A randomised control trial examining the effect of an antioxidant (Menevit) on pregnancy outcome during IVF-ICSI treatment.Tremellen K, Miari G, Froiland D, Thompson J.
Repromed, Dulwich, SA 5065, Australia. kelton.tremellen@adelaide.edu.au

BACKGROUND: Evidence has accumulated supporting the role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathogenesis of sperm dysfunction among men with infertility. Damage to sperm DNA by ROS can lead to failure of conception, miscarriage or potentially even childhood cancer. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of male antioxidant treatment on embryo quality and pregnancy outcome during in vitro fertilisation-intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF-ICSI) treatment. METHODS: Sixty couples with severe male factor infertility were enrolled in a prospective randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Male participants were randomly assigned to take either one capsule per day of the Menevit antioxidant or an identical in appearance placebo for three months prior to their partner's IVF cycle. The primary outcome was cleavage stage embryo quality and the secondary outcomes were oocyte fertilisation rate, pregnancy rates and treatment side-effects. Approval by the local Human Research Ethics Committee was obtained prior to the commencement of this study. RESULTS: The antioxidant group recorded a statistically significant improvement in viable pregnancy rate (38.5% of transferred embryos resulting in a viable fetus at 13 weeks gestation) compared to the control group (16% viable pregnancy). No significant changes in oocyte fertilisation rate or embryo quality were detected between the antioxidant and the placebo groups. Side-effects on the Menevit antioxidant were rare (8%) and mild in nature. CONCLUSIONS: The Menevit antioxidant appears to be a useful ancillary treatment that significantly improves pregnancy rates in couples undergoing IVF-ICSI treatment for severe male factor infertility.