Bio-separations pioneer Memphasys (ASX:MEM) continues to gather traction with leading international andrology and IVF assessment organisations, signing a partnership with a French National Research Centre aligned lab.
Since reaching a critical stage in its commercial development Memphasys has been signing MoUs with leading organisations to conduct in-vitro assessments using the company’s Felix sperm separation technology. So far two have been signed with a total of 10-15 key opinion leaders (KOLs) targeted by the company.
The first KOL to sign was ANOVA Karolinska, a Swedish-based male infertility and andrology centre and the freshly inked partnership is with a renowned French genetics reproduction and development lab (GReD), supported by the University Clermont Auvergne (UCA).
The UCA/GReD team will be led by Professor Joel Drevet, an international leader in mammalian andrology, bringing together two world renowned fertility experts, with Memphasys’s Felix technology developed by the esteemed Dr John Aitken.
The teams will work collaboratively to validate the Felix system and assess its efficacy in separating spermatozoa under clinical conditions, with current technologies labour intensive, costly and damaging to DNA.
Commenting on the MoU Alison Coutts, executive chairman of Memphasys, stated:
We are very pleased that Prof Drevet and his team from UCA/GReD, France, have agreed to participate in the clinical assessment of the Felix device.
“Prof Drevet is a leader in andrology and in particular, in the role that oxidative stress plays in male infertility.
“We are now well advanced into the recruitment of 10-15 of the leading IVF clinics and andrology reference centres in the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia to take part in the Felix assessment and expect to announce the recruitment of other leading centres shortly,” she said.
First clinical versions of the Felix device are anticipated to be available to the selected IVF clinics and andrology centres from late Q1 2019.