RECOMBINANT FOLLICLE-STIMULATING-HORMONE (FOLLITROPIN-BETA, PUREGON-ASTERISK) YIELDS HIGHER PREGNANCY RATES IN IN-VITRO FERTILIZATION THAN URINARY GONADOTROPINS

Objective: To assess ongoing pregnancy rates (PRs) in IVF after treatm ent with recombinant FSH (follitropin beta, Puregon: NV Organon, Oss, the Netherlands) as compared with urinary gonadotropins. Design: A com bined analysis of three prospective, multicenter, randomized, comparat ive trials. Setting: Twenty-five IVF centers in 13 countries. Patient( s): Six hundred ninety-seven infertile women receiving recombinant FSH and 463 women receiving hMG or urinary FSH and undergoing one cycle o f controlled ovarian hyperstimulation and IVF-ET. Intervention(s): A c enter-based and study-based analysis weighing the treatment difference s in individual centers and studies: respectively. Main Outcome Measur e(s): Pregnancy rate at least 12 weeks after ET per started cycle. Res ult(s): In the center-based analysis, the ongoing PR was 22.9% for rec ombinant FSH and 17.9% for urinary gonadotropins. The 5.0% treatment d ifference (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.2% to 9.7%) was significant . When the results of the cryoprogram were included, the treatment dif ference increased to 6.4% (95% CI, 1.4% to 11.3%). Also in the study-b ased analysis, significantly higher PRs were seen after follitropin be ta treatment. Conclusion(s): Follitropin beta (Puregon) used for contr olled ovarian hyperstimulation in IVF yields significantly higher Univ ersity of Brussels, PRs compared with urinary gonadotropins. (C) 1997 by American Society for Reproductive Medicine.