Developing the world's first at-home, clinical-grade fertility treatment

Infertility is a global public health issue, experienced by 10-25% of women worldwide and affecting 3.5M people in the UK, with rates rising. Despite this, UK public funding for fertility treatment is declining. 4% of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) no longer offer publicly funded fertility treatment. Those that do implement rigid requirements including cut-off ages (starting at 34 years), offer limited numbers of cycles (two thirds only provide one cycle of IVF), and have long waiting times (from several months to 3 years, highly clinically significant in the context of rising infertility with age).

Consequently, approximately 70% of fertility treatments in the UK are paid for privately. Couples with infertility spend an average of £13,730 on fertility treatment. 78% of couples go into debt to fund their IVF treatment, and 70% experience financial trauma.

StepOne Fertility (trading as Béa Fertility) is working to solve the problem of inaccessible and unaffordable fertility care. We are on a mission to reimagine fertility care, making sure everyone can access the support they deserve to create their family. Our ambition is to bring clinical-grade fertility care into homes around the world with a safe, clinically validated, and effective treatment, which is also affordable and inclusive.

Our approach is based on a technique called intracervical insemination (ICI), once widely available in fertility clinics. ICI concentrates semen onto the cervix using a cap, left in situ for 4+ hours. ICI fell out of favour during the 1980s when intrauterine insemination (IUI) became available. IUI is a quicker, more profitable in-clinic treatment option for clinics, yet ICI shows similar efficacy. Crucially, ICI is less invasive than IUI and suitable for adaptation to a home environment. We are developing an innovative fertility treatment that combines a novel ICI device and digital health experience, revolutionising at-home fertility treatment.