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Fairtility to give presentations at the ESHRE 2022 meeting in Milan

The company will share clinical data on the effectiveness of its AI-powered embryo quality assessment assistant

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This year's ESHRE meeting is taking place in Milan

Fairtility, the Israeli AI innovator powering in vitro fertilisation (IVF), will present five abstracts and seven posters at the Annual European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) Meeting in Milan.

The company’s research presents qualitative and quantitative data showcased in the 12 total presentations at ESHRE.

Fairtility’s proprietary AI-powered embryo quality assessment assistant, CHLOE EQ™ (Cultivating Human Life through Optimal Embryos), provides embryologists with previously unachievable data supporting embryo selection, creating an opportunity to clearly explain analysis results based on quantifiable biological parameters.

“Embryologists are longing for a solution that will bring standardisation, accuracy, and greater efficiency to their emotional and impactful work,” says Dr. Cristina Hickman, VP of clinical affairs with Fairtility. In the embryology lab, we must carefully maintain and protect the potential of life at its earliest stages. We feel a strong sense of responsibility to patients as they work to fulfil their dream of becoming parents.

“Fairtility is the only solution I know of that provides the level of transparency that embryologists really expect from an AI system,” she adds. “Having this information available on the ‘WHY’ behind our recommendations positions CHLOE to reshape the conversation between IVF professionals and their patients.”

Along with other fertility clinic partners, the Israeli company will give five oral presentations at ESHRE. Registrations for the meeting, taking place in Milan, Italy between July 3-6, 2022, can be found here.

“We are investing heavily in clinical validation for CHLOE EQ™, as we believe we must hold ourselves accountable to the industry’s highest standards of clinical evidence and validation,” says Eran Eshed, CEO and co-founder of Fairtility.

“Just as any medical device must go through rigorous assessment to achieve regulatory clearance, we are continuously testing, analysing and improving CHLOE EQ™’s accuracy and usability. It has the potential to help fertility clinics improve their clinical outcomes, reduce the number of cycles to live birth and improve workflow efficiency. Crucially, it is designed to earn physicians and embryologists’ trust by introducing visibility into the IVF process.”

For more information, visit fairtility.com.

Menopause

Apple Health adds menopause and perimenopause tracking

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Apple announced menopause and perimenopause tracking for its Health app at WWDC 2026, with symptom logging and cycle alerts for some users.

The update expands the app’s cycle tracking beyond fertility and menstrual periods.

If logged cycle patterns suggest a user may be experiencing perimenopause, the app will send a notification prompting a conversation with a doctor.

However, this perimenopause-specific cycle deviation notification is only for users aged 40 and over and is not intended to replace a doctor’s diagnosis or treatment.

Stacey Ford, Apple’s vice-president of OS management, said users will also be able to log menopause and perimenopause symptoms in the Health app.

Educational content will also be available to help users learn more about these life stages and understand changes in their bodies.

Every year, about 2 million women enter perimenopause, the stage before menopause when levels of the hormone oestrogen decline.

According to a February 2025 survey involving 4,432 participants aged over 30, more than half of women aged 30 to 35 experienced moderate or severe perimenopause symptoms.

The findings suggest perimenopause does not affect only older adults.

About 6,000 women in the US enter menopause every day, according to the Society for Women’s Health Research.

Given the number of women affected by perimenopause and menopause, the update broadens the Health app’s scope.

The app launched in 2019, meaning it has gone seven years without these women’s health tracking features, which could help users better understand their bodies and prepare for informed conversations with doctors.

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Pregnancy

£50m initiative aims to tackle disparities in maternal healthcare

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A £50m maternity consortium will bring together UK clinicians, researchers and communities to tackle the most critical gaps in maternal care.

Funding from the National Institute for Health and Care Research has established the NIHR Inequalities Challenge: Maternity Disparities Consortium under the leadership of the University of Birmingham and Newcastle University.

Higher education bodies, NHS organisations, community groups and voluntary organisations from across the UK will work together through the programme.

The NIHR has committed £50m over five years to support research led by clinicians, researchers and communities across the consortium.

Professor Joht Singh Chandan, consortium co-lead for research at the University of Birmingham, said: “National attention on maternity safety and equity has never been greater, but ambition must now be matched by evidence and implementation.

“Through this consortium, we will work across the UK to understand what works, for whom and in what contexts, and to ensure that research leads to practical changes in care for the women, babies and families who need them most.”

The launch comes at a pivotal moment for UK maternity care, with growing national attention on improving safety, equity and women’s experiences of care.

The government’s renewed Women’s Health Strategy highlights the need to improve care before and between pregnancies for underserved communities.

Against that backdrop, the consortium will generate the evidence, interventions and research capacity needed to help turn national ambition into practical improvements for women, babies and families.

University of Birmingham is leading work to improve maternity care pathways across the antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal periods.

Antenatal care covers pregnancy before labour, while intrapartum care refers to care during labour and birth.

The consortium will examine how women and families can be better supported before pregnancy and between pregnancies.

This includes improving access to advice and care that can help people prepare for pregnancy, manage existing health conditions and reduce risks before they build up.

Other research will focus on improving care during pregnancy, birth and the early weeks after birth.

This will include work on major causes of poor maternal health, such as high blood pressure, diabetes in pregnancy, obesity, perinatal mental health and complications during recovery after birth.

Professor Judith Rankin OBE, consortium co-lead for research and capacity development at Newcastle University, said: “This funding represents a critical opportunity to make the step change we need to improve outcomes for women and their babies.

“Alongside the research, the Consortium will be investing in tomorrow’s research leaders today to ensure we have the capacity to deliver on improving pregnancy outcomes, access to, and experience of, care.”

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Insight

Peers call on UK government to review fertility and surrogacy laws

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Peers have called for law reform after two House of Lords debates on fertility treatment, surrogacy, embryo research and declining birthrates.

The first debate was put forward by crossbench peer Baroness Ruth Deech, who previously chaired the UK’s fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

She discussed proposals from the HFEA to reform the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, along with proposals from the Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission of England and Wales to reform the Surrogacy Arrangements Act.

She called for parliamentary scrutiny of possible changes to regulatory powers, consent rules, donor information and future scientific developments.

Baroness Deech said: “Parliament should plan by setting up a Select Committee to examine the HFEA’s proposals to expand regulatory powers, simplify consent rules, modernise donor information provisions and create a flexible framework for future scientific developments.”

Former fertility professionals were among those contributing to the debate.

Professor Lord Robert Winston, a Labour peer who founded the IVF service at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said: “Infertility is not a disease; it is actually a symptom of something wrong.”

Professor Baroness Geeta Nargund, a Labour peer, current HFEA member and former medical director of CREATE Fertility, disagreed.

She said: “Infertility is a disease, as stated by the World Health Organisation.”

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Caroline Pidgeon highlighted regional differences in access to NHS-funded fertility treatment.

She cited figures from the Progress Educational Trust’s NHS Fertility Funding Tracker showing that only two of England’s 42 integrated care boards comply with the recently updated fertility guideline published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Integrated care boards are local NHS organisations responsible for planning and funding healthcare services in their areas.

Baroness Pidgeon said many boards were offering only a partial IVF cycle rather than a full cycle as defined by NICE.

A full IVF cycle generally includes ovarian stimulation, egg collection and the transfer of all suitable fresh and frozen embryos created during treatment.

Crossbench peer Professor Baroness Clare Gerada, a former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said: “The proportion of NHS-funded IVF cycles has fallen to just under 30 per cent, the lowest level since 2008.”

She added that, in relation to IVF, “the NHS system has collapsed”.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Monroe Palmer said it was “very ironic that it is difficult for many patients to access publicly funded fertility treatment in the very country where IVF was originally pioneered”.

Conservative peer Edward Howard, Earl of Effingham, also raised concerns about the NICE fertility guideline.

He said: “Access remains highly variable across England, because ICBs are not required to implement that guidance.”

He described the situation as “a clear gap between guidance and enforceable entitlement”.

Baroness Deech called for “automatic record sharing between clinics and the NHS central records system”.

Baroness Nargund supported this and linked the ambition to the Single Patient Record in the government’s Ten-Year Health Plan for England and the Health Bill currently before Parliament.

Baroness Pidgeon said such ambitions were at odds with the exceptional degree of medical secrecy that currently applies to IVF.

She also pointed to “a clear desire for the HFEA to be able to permit patients to give generic consent for the use of their embryos in research”.

Patients cannot currently give broad consent for unspecified future research involving their embryos.

Responding for the government, Labour peer Baroness Judith Blake said “immediate legislative reform” was not possible because “the legislative programme for this Parliamentary session is very full”.

Baroness Deech replied: “It might well take some years, but the Government really needs to set up that Select Committee and do the legislative scrutiny right now.”

A second debate on related issues followed immediately afterwards.

Baroness Nargund asked the government “what assessment they have made of the UK’s declining birthrates in an ageing population”.

She also said: “We still have a postcode lottery for IVF provision, with nearly 70 per cent of ICBs funding only one cycle of treatment.”

Responding for the government, Labour peer Lord Philip Wilson said: “The Government are committed to improving fair and equitable access to fertility services, recognising the significant emotional and health impacts of infertility.”

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