U-Ploid's Lyvanta almost doubles the share of error-free human eggs in study presented at ASRM 2026

BALTIMORE, US, 26 October 2026. Oxford-based U-Ploid Biotechnologies today reported that its investigational therapy, LYVANTA (UP-085), almost doubled the proportion of chromosomally normal eggs in a randomised laboratory study of donated human eggs. In results presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) 2026 Scientific Congress, 65.6% of treated eggs were free of chromosome errors, compared with 35.7% of untreated eggs from the same donors.

Chromosome errors in eggs are the leading cause of IVF failure and miscarriage, and they become far more common with age. Around half of eggs from women in their early thirties carry these errors, rising to over 90% in women over 40. Clinics can test embryos for errors, but there is currently no treatment that prevents them. LYVANTA is designed to change that by protecting cohesin, the molecular glue that holds chromosome pairs together as the egg matures, so that errors are stopped before they happen rather than found afterwards.

The study used immature eggs donated by patients at six UK fertility clinics, with each donor’s eggs randomly split between treatment and control. Alongside the 84% relative increase in error-free eggs, the most common type of age-related chromosome error fell from 4.70% to 1.77% of chromosomes, a reduction of more than 60%. Treated eggs survived and matured at the same rate as untreated ones.

"During IVF treatment, patients can have their embryos tested for aneuploidy. This procedure, called PGT-A, tells a patient which of their embryos is likely to be healthy, but it cannot improve the number of embryos that are," said Dr Alexandre Webster, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of U-Ploid and Chief Investigator of the study. "This is the first time we've measured the effect in human eggs, and it was consistent across donors and age groups. But it’s important to stress, these are early laboratory results and further investigation is required."

"Care Fertility is pleased to have supported the U-Ploid researchers, and we are grateful to the patients who chose to donate eggs to this research. Early work like this depends on their generosity, and on careful science. This is ambitious and exciting research. Although still at an early stage, this technology has the potential to improve the chances of success for future fertility patients," said Professor Alison Campbell, Chief Scientific Officer at Care Fertility.

The results come from a pre-specified interim analysis. No eggs were fertilised, and LYVANTA has not yet been tested in patients, so safety studies and clinical trials will be needed before it could become part of fertility treatment. The study was approved by the West Midlands (Solihull) Research Ethics Committee. The poster, Preclinical Evaluation of a First-In-Class Therapeutic for Reducing Meiotic Aneuploidy in Human Oocytes, was presented on 26 October 2026.

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