Source: BBC

By James Gallagher: Health and Science reporter, BBC News

The cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF) can be cut dramatically from thousands of pounds to around £170 to start a “new era” in IVF, fertility doctors from Belgium claim.

Twelve children have been born through the technique, which replaces expensive medical equipment with “kitchen cupboard” ingredients.

Data, presented at fertility conference in London, suggests the success rate is similar to conventional IVF.

Experts said there was big potential to open up IVF to the developing world.

Fertility treatment is expensive. In the UK, it costs around £5,000 per cycle.

High levels of the gas carbon dioxide are needed when growing embryos in an IVF clinic in order to control the acidity levels. This is maintained using carbon dioxide incubators, medical grade gas and air purification.

Instead, the team at the Genk Institute for Fertility Technology mixed inexpensive citric acid and bicarbonate of soda to produce carbon dioxide.

Lead researcher Prof Willem Ombelet said: “We succeeded with an almost Alka-Selzer like technique. Our first results suggest it is at least as good as normal IVF and we now have 12 healthy babies born.”

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