All of our blog posts are written, edited, or produced by the London Women’s Clinic Content Team. This is a collaboration between our expert writers, health editors, and the leading researchers and senior doctors at our Harley Street clinic.
The HFEA has recently reported that the average age for a patient starting IVF treatment continues to rise, and is now at 35. This is an age at which ovaries release fewer eggs and pregnancy can often only be achieved with good quality eggs from a younger donor.
For the past decades, most donor egg treatments in the UK involved eggs collected from donors in clinics overseas, such as Spain, Cyprus, Ukraine and the USA. In 2013, the London Egg Bank was established in partnership with the London Women’s Clinic. Alongside improvements in fast-freeze vitrification technology, we have been able to offer our patients donor eggs sourced only in the UK. This means access to the UK’s gold-standard regulations of donor identity and transparency for all who choose to receive treatment from us.
As the largest egg donor bank in the UK, the London Egg Bank has now written to all UK-licensed IVF clinics. After freezing 100,000 MII oocytes and registering 1,500 healthy births from thawed eggs, we are excited to expand the scope of our work. We hope to share the benefits – and peace of mind – of donor eggs sourced from UK donors with patients across a wider range of British clinics.
In the words of London Egg Bank Scientific Director Dr Kamal Ahuja, “Our records show that over the years close to 100,000 women have made enquiries about being an egg donor with the London Egg Bank. Although many don’t meet the stringent screening criteria to become donors, the growing interest from highly motivated women means that we are able to overcome shortages of UK-donated eggs. It also gives us the confidence to offer donor eggs sourced at LEB to all UK-licensed clinics.”
From observations at the London Egg Bank, it is clear that egg recipients, both from the UK and abroad, welcome eggs sourced in the UK for several reasons: the rules on anonymity which give children born from donated eggs or sperm the right to know the identity of their donor at the age of 18, the strict rules on donor screening for inherited diseases and other conditions, regulations regarding transparency and traceability, and consistently high success rates with frozen-thawed eggs.
Most London Egg Bank donors are university graduates in full-time employment. They are often keen to help infertile couples for purely altruistic reasons. They may have seen infertility among their family and friends, or else have simply completed the making of their own family.
The demand for donor eggs in Britain continues to rise, as ever more couples postpone pregnancy. There is hope: HFEA figures show that with egg donation birth rates for women in their 40s can be as high as for those 20 years younger. The key is the age of the egg, not of the patient.
Rapid vitrification proved a revolution in egg donation, allowing donor eggs to be stored and shipped without loss of viability and shifting the course of fertility away from the ups and downs of biology and into the hands of the patient. London Egg Bank is prepared and ready to share the benefits of this technology, and our 10 years+ of experience, with licenced clinics across the UK.
For further information about treatment at London Egg Bank please write to Annabel Yazdi (Annabel.Yazdi@londoneggbank.com) or Marta Wolska (Marta.Wolska@londoneggbank.com).
Header image shows London Egg Bank team at London Bridge and Harley Street. From left to right, back row to front row:
Laura Bueno-Gomez; Frida Von Krusenstierna; Dominika Kwiatkowska; Poonam Desai; Sarah Carter; Wicca Wong; Annabel Yazdi.Taiwo Alimi; Summer Davidson; Hemlata Thackare; Marta Wolska.
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