Gattaca Genomic’s aim with is its prenatal genetic screening is to improve a couple’s ability to build a family.

By Chris Wolski

Summary

Gattaca Genomics aims to enhance family-building through advanced prenatal genetic screening, increasing the success rates of IVF and making it more accessible.

Takeaways

  1. Enhanced IVF Success: Gattaca combines next-generation sequencing with embryo evaluation to identify the healthiest embryos for implantation, boosting IVF success rates.
  2. Global Accessibility: The company is launching a worldwide clinical trial to provide its technology to 100 clinics, focusing on both developed and emerging economies to improve accessibility.
  3. Ethical Stance: Gattaca emphasizes that its screening technology does not involve creating “designer babies,” focusing instead on viability and health rather than genetic selection.

After decades of worries about a so-called population “bomb,” demographers are now warning of falling birthrates around the world. The warning is backed by hard statistics. In the U.S. alone, about 9% of men and 11% of women have fertility problems1—which means up to 20% of U.S. couples have trouble or cannot conceive children naturally.

Prenatal Genetic Screening: Upping the Odds

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is among the most common ways that infertile couples are able to conceive a child. The process involves the fertilization of an egg outside the woman’s womb, which is then implanted once it becomes viable.

However, the process is both expensive and marked by frequent failure, with couples both emotionally and financially devastated. 

This is where Gattaca Genomics comes in. The company has pioneered a prenatal genetic screening method that is designed to increase the likelihood of a successful pregnancy while eliminating the crushing financial burden that comes along with multiple attempts.

Combining next generation sequencing (NGS) and morphology, Gattaca’s aim is to implant the most healthy and viable embryo in the female partner, according to Mari Mitrani, MD, PhD, Gattaca’s chief scientific officer.

Process Overview

The process involves a time-lapse overview of the embryo, allowing it to grow until day seven. At that time, a biopsy of five cells is taken from the placenta and examined using NGS. The embryo is also evaluated physically. 

Since typically several embryos are grown during the pre-IVF process, the most viable can be chosen for implantation.

Mitrani notes that critically, what’s important for viability is that the embryo has all of its chromosomes from each parent, and that is what is evaluated with NGS. 

The combination of genetic and physical health of the seven-day-old embryo allows the physician team to pick the healthiest embryo to implant first.

And, certainly, while success means happier clients and employee satisfaction, there’s also a direct bottom-line benefit. Organizations that can boast higher success rates will attract more couples seeking help to start a family.

Increasing Accessibility

Mitrani acknowledges the expense of IVF, but also notes that Gattaca offers something other companies don’t.

“We’re a financial aid player,” she says. “Our goal is to increase accessibility to IVF.”

To that end, Gattaca is commencing a worldwide clinical trial of its technology. The goal is to enroll 100 clinics over the next three years. Participating clinics will receive Gattaca’s genomics technology free of charge.

This worldwide trial includes both first-world and emerging economies, such as Peru and Nigeria. As an immigrant, Mitrani is especially committed to including regions without advanced economies. 

“It’s important that minority communities are represented,” she says.

Prenatal Genetic Screening—Not ‘Designer Babies’

Though its name was partly inspired by the 1997 film Gattaca, a dystopian vision of genetically engineered men and women, Mitrani makes it clear that Gattaca Genomics is not in the business of creating so-called “designer babies.” 

“We’re [at best] decades away from that—there’s no way to pick genes,” she says. “You can only pick donors.”

IVF Under Threat?

With recent political action that has limited access to IVF in some areas of the U.S., does the Florida-based Gattaca Genomics see the future of prenatal genetic screening and IVF as under threat?

Mitrani deflects the question, noting that Gattaca supports the position of industry organizations such as the American Society of Reproductive Medicine (ASRM). 

“We…stand with every health care provider that every couple has a right to build a family,” she says.

Chris Wolski is the chief editor of CLP.

Reference

  1. “How Common is Infertility.” National Institutes of Health. February 8, 2018. https://www.nichd.nih.gov/health/topics/infertility/conditioninfo/common#:~:text=About%209%25%20of%20men%20and,States%20have%20experienced%20fertility%20problems.&text=In%20one%2Dthird%20of%20infertile,both%20the%20man%20and%20woman.