Virtual fertility clinic aims to challenge treatment experience

FemTech World meets Caroline Noublanche, co-founder and CEO of Apricity, the virtual clinic on a mission to change fertility care. 

Few people know that the world’s first baby to be conceived via in vitro fertilisation (IVF) was born in Manchester in 1978. Since then, IVF success rates have grown from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, according to a report from 2018.

Although the modern use of ultrasound imaging to harvest the eggs under a mild sedation has advanced the procedure, the complexity of the treatment has not changed a lot, says Caroline Noublanche.

“When you can’t conceive, you have to actually give up on the idea that the baby will be born naturally,” the CEO tells me.

“Even though IVF has existed for 40 years, it’s still a very painful process, organised around the constraints of the clinic and the doctor and emotionally, it’s a roller coaster of emotions. On average couples need three cycles, but in some cases they might need more or they might not succeed at all. So, IVF remains uncertain.”

Along with her co-founder, Andrew Berkley, Noublanche came up with the idea of reinventing fertility treatments, and launched Apricity in 2018. “Instead of having to go to a clinic 10 times on average during treatment, we wanted to arrange everything from the comfort of your home,” the CEO explains. “That includes video consultations, but also blood tests, scans, sperm analysis and drug delivery.

“The patients would only have to go to the clinic for two procedures: the collection and the embryo transfer. We also wanted to make the whole process a lot more digital so that the patients can have access to a fertility advisor who can answer their questions, arrange appointments and make sure that when they are short of drugs, they can get a top-up in time,” the co-founder continues.

“We also have a dedicated care team who supervise patients’ treatment and help with early diagnostic. Our two objectives [using the platform] are to deliver the best experience possible for patients and to maximise the chances to conceive through a mix of protocol adherence, treatment efficiency as well as a mix of algorithms and data-driven decisions which are there to help our patients.”

In a virtual clinic, doctor-patient communication is key and with a rise in digital health technology during the pandemic, more and more people are open to remote consultations. “When you have to go to the clinic, it can be quite intense,” Noublanche points out.

“We very much believe that delivering the best experience from the comfort of your home, where your partner can be present as well, can make a huge difference. There are 30 per cent mistakes today in treatments in traditional clinics, because it’s a lot of word of mouth. During a video consultation, however, one of our nurses is able to support the patients, so that they know the exact dose they need, when they need it and subsequently, have a much better product regimen.”

Apricity found that their doctors, nurses and advisors’ relationship with their patients is very different from the one they have in a traditional clinic. Seeing the couple – not just the woman undergoing the treatment – can enable doctors to also observe the dynamic of the two.

“I think COVID has really changed the perception of people on digital health as a whole,” says Noublanche. “Virtually, you’re gaining on aspects such as convenience and doctor-patient quality of the relationship itself. The goal of all of the data [collected] is to make sure that you don’t get a treatment with a one-size-fits-all type of approach.

“We use the data to inform our decisions and to make sure that we better personalise treatment. The customisation also comes from the emotional support we offer and which is extremely important in terms of mental health.”

A fertility predictor is also able to tell patients what their chances to conceive are when following a certain type of treatment. The CEO says that: “We try to show our patients the glass half full because it’s a moment when they tend to be a bit more fragile, but [the predictor] also tells them black on white what their chances are.

“We are also transparent about the costs from the very beginning. What we don’t want is starting a treatment you would think would cost £4,000 and then find out that you have to pay another £1,000 for drugs or additional consolations. Yes, sometimes we lose and sometimes we gain, but we always want to be transparent. I think that’s very important.”

Caroline says the team have big plans for the future, focusing on the expansion of the company beyond the UK. “Our mission is to become the queen of Europe in fertility treatment,” she proudly tells me.

“We are planning to be present in Italy, Germany and in other European countries and continue to deliver the same quality of care and same attention to patients.”

She adds that: “At the moment we already outperform the national average of 61 per cent, so we have amazing success rates. We do everything with a data-driven approach and tech to provide efficiency. What we want is to continue to increase our success rates.

The CEO says that the feedback they receive is what keeps Apricity going and what motivates her, as an entrepreneur. “We often get pictures of new-born babies and that moves us a lot. Even from the people who don’t succeed, we get really amazing feedback on the support that we offer. Our one mission is to help patients live their life while creating one.”

For more information, visit apricity.life.