Medical standards for infertility treatment and reproductive biomedicine in Iran are on par with developed countries, said Hamid Choubineh, head of the Infertility Treatment Center (Royan Institute) affiliated to the Red Crescent Medicine and Treatment Complex.
“Over the last two years since the center was established, 3,500 people received intervention, one-third of whom underwent treatment and 300 women were successfully impregnated,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
Noting that 90% of infertile couples can have children after undergoing a three-phase treatment, Choubineh said even if the first phase fails, they can still go through the next phase of treatment.
He advised couples to be patient and go through the different stages of intervention. “Around 80% of couples can have a child with their own sperm and eggs and if they fail to do so, they can use donor embryos or resort to surrogacy.” There are three million infertile couples in the country.
In developed countries, each treatment phase provides 30-35% chances of pregnancy and data from the Royan Institute suggest the same in Iran.
Embryo, egg and sperm freezing and donation and related services are undertaken at the center.
All activities are ethical and within the scope of religious jurisprudence and the national law “to make the dream of infertile couples come true,” he said, adding that people’s cooperation can cut illegal dealers in donor embryo.
Close Collaboration
Established in 1991 by Saeid Kazemi Ashtiani, Royan Institute for Reproductive Biomedicine, Stem Cell Biology and Technology is a leading Iranian biomedical research center involved in stem cell research and regenerative medicine.
The institute has close collaborations with other leading Iranian research centers such as the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, the National Research Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and the Bone Marrow Transplantation Center at Tehran’s Shariati Hospital.
Its academic output has increased from two articles in 1996 to 67 in 2005, including 24 publications in international journals.
Royan is also a leading stem cell research center. Iran has some of the most liberal laws on stem cell research in the world. The institute founded a Department of Stem Cells in 2002 where researchers produced a cloned sheep in 2006.
