The announcement was made this week that Merck have agreed to a global collaboration with Genea Biomedx, an Australian company, dedicated to advancing fertility science and helping couples create families.
This partnership will allow Merck Serono and Assisted Reproductive Treatment (ART) to receive global marketing and commercialisation rights to Genea Biomedx’s product portfolio.
This collaboration comprises, Gavi, Geri and Gems product lines which are expected to receive CE mark in Europe shortly, as well as a joint development.
Tomas Stojanov CEO of Genea said: “Advancing the science of fertility treatment to improve outcomes and success rates for patients worldwide is Genea’s mission and we are excited that our agreement with Merck helps us continue to bring that aim to fruition.”
Gavi will be the world’s first fully automated vitrification instrument, focusing on lab processes with the aim of reducing potential errors and increasing efficiency in cryopreservation of embryos and in the future for oocytes (eggs).
Geri is a benchtop incubator fitted with a time-lapse camera to capture images of embryos as they develop and also individually controlled incubation chambers per patient to minimize disruptive events to the early-stage embryo.
Gems is the latest generation of Genea’s culture media allowing for high quality embryo cultivation.
The collaboration is part of the company’s strategy to provide the best fertility solutions to its customers to increase success rates.
To further strengthen this position, Merck Serono will closely collaborate with Genea Biomedx to jointly develop other innovative technology products and services, and have formed a development hub to pave the way for further improvements for the patient.
Belén Garijo, Member of the Executive Board of Merck and CEO Healthcare said: “There is significant need for improved technologies in fertility treatment, since the majority of issues in ART are beyonf drug therapy.
“The key priority of our Fertility Technologies unit at Merck Serono is to advance our fertility portfolio beyond drugs and to enable innovation in technologies and services. Merck Serono is dedicated to help patients realise their dream of creating a family.”
The collaboration showcases both companies’ commitment to improve fertility treatment and was effective from May 1st, 2015.