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Fertility Drugs
Depending on the cause of a woman's infertility, medication may be
one of the first courses of treatment recommended. A number of
problems can be treated with fertility drugs, many of which which
encourage ovulation by stimulating
hormones in the brain.
Each patient is unique
so different drugs may be prescribed for different women. Here is a list of some of the medications frequently
used. New medications are being researched all over the world and we
will evaluate the possibility of using these new drugs as they
become
available and are deemed safe and effective.
Clomiphene citrate
(Clomid, Serophene): Similar to estrogen, Clomiphene helps
stimulate ovulation.
Doxycycline (Adoxa,
Doryx):
Antibiotic used during some fertility treatments to reduce the
risk of infection. Estradiol
topical patches
(Vivelle, Alora): An estrogen hormone which helps prepare
the uterus for implantation. Used in surrogates and
embryo recipients.
Follicle stimulating
hormone or FSH (Fertinex, Gonal F, Follistim, Bravelle):
Used to stimulate the growth and maturation of eggs.
Response to these drugs vary depending on a woman's age, among
other factors. View the instructional videos:
Follistim Pen®.
Gonal F® Pen.
(Please use ctrl-click if a
popup blocker prohibits you from seeing either of the
videos.)
GnRH
antagonist (Antagon, Cetratide): Functions at the level of
the pituitary to keep the patient from ovulating prematurely.
Human chorionic
gonadotropin or HCG (Profasi, Novarel): Induces egg
maturation in women who have been treated with ovulation
inducing medication.
Human menopausal
gonadotrophin or hMG
(Pergonal, Metrodin,
Repronex): Injectable medication used to stimulate ovarian
follicular development. These medication are used in
women who do not ovulate or for whom multiple egg production
is needed for fertility procedures.
Leuprolide (Lupron, Eligard): Improves
ovarian response to HMG, used in conjunction with IVF.
Methylprednisolone (Medrol): Used to
increase the chance of implantation by altering the
immune system slightly for a short period of time so that
embryos are not rejected.
Progesterone (Prometrium): Helps
prepare and and maintain the endometrium to allow implantation
of am embryo.
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