Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 2019

GHP / 2019 Healthcare & Pharmaceutical Awards 59 , Institut Marquès Institut Marquès: Best International Gynaecology, Obstetrics & Assisted Reproduction Reference Centre Thanks to almost a century of experience, Institut Marquès (IM) is a centre of international renown in the Gynaecology and Assisted Reproduction sector. In celebration of the clinic’s success in this year’s Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Awards we profile it and offer an overview of how its innovative approach is driving this vital market forward. Since the beginning IM has been offering innovative solutions in the Gynaecology, Obstetrics and Assisted Reproduction space, and as a result it has become an international reference in its sector, with presence in four European countries (Spain, Italy, Ireland and UK) Led and managed by Dr Marisa López-Teijón and Dr Leonardo Marquès Amorós, IM treats patients from over 50 countries. Many of these patients have previously undergone fertility treatment, without success. Uniquely capable of providing cutting-edge support, IM now specialises in treating previously impossible cases, and it now boasts a 89% success rate per cycle for IVF with Egg Donation, 72% for IVF with own eggs and 62% for IVF with Preimplantation Genetic Testing in patients with risk of chromosomal abnormality. The centre has its own Sperm Bank and a broad programme of Egg and Embryo Donation. IM is committed to R&D on male infertility and the benefits of music at the start of life and on foetal stimulation. In this regard, its research has shown that foetuses hear from the 16th week of pregnancy onwards, only if the outside sounds reach them directly from their mother’s vagina. For the discovery of foetal hearing, Dr. López-Teijón’s team created the intravaginal speaker Babypod, which is already used by thousands of women and was awarded with the 2017 Ig Nobel Medicine Prize. As a result of his discovery, IM now uses innovative techniques including music, mobile technology, telemedicine and the use of virtual reality to help to change this crucial market for the better. Music is a key aspect of the centre’s work, and is always present at the laboratories in IM, with the centre even hosting live concerts. Artists from all over the world, as for instance Sharon Corr, have performed for the embryos in its centres, where all incubators have music inside them. According to the research carried out in the laboratories of IM, music improves a 5% the fertilisation rates of IVF treatments. Music micro vibrations inside the incubators stir the culture medium where embryos develop, achieving a more homogeneous distribution of the nutrients and scattering impurities. Alongside this study, IM has also developed an app called Embryomobile, which allows parents a real time follow-up of their embryos while they are in the incubator from any location. It is a commitment to transparency that, furthermore, reduces the stress of the mother before the embryo transfer considerably. IM is the only centre where patients can really see how their embryos are. According to another of the institute’s studies, women who can follow the development of their embryos live during the In Vitro Fertilisation treatment are more likely to get pregnant. This way, the positive impact of emotions on the outcome of fertility treatments has been demonstrated for the first time. Male factor (male infertility) is associated with 50% of infertility cases: 30% as the only factor, and in the remaining 20% of the cases, combined with a female factor. At IM they prioritise the study of the male reproductive health in order to have a full diagnosis of each case. Institut Marquès carried out several studies on sperm quality, which demonstrated, among other factors, the connection between sperm quality and the exposure of the embryo to the so-called endocrine disruptors. Such discoveries and others, including the importance of sexual stimulation on the sperm sample achieved, and the use of telemedicine, has led to a shift in the fertility market and has helped established IM as a true thought-leader in the market. Moving forward, IM will continue to innovate and adapt around the latest discoveries it makes to ensure it remains successful in all of its endeavours. Company: Institut Marquès Email: [email protected] Website: https://institutomarques.com/