A fertility centre in the UK has begun offering a scheme that provides half-price IVF treatment for women who donate their eggs for the purpose of research.
The centre is question is the Newcastle NHS Fertility Centre at Life, which has selected 15 women to take part in the scheme.
As of now, it is known that around six women will begin the treatment this month and will receive £1,500 off their IVF treatment, which works out to half the usual cost of treatment.
According to scientists, extra eggs for research could progress stem cell therapies for the two-year project which is slated to begin soon. The human eggs which are donated to research will then be used in the creation of embryos from which stem cells can be derived.
This new scheme happens to be the first of its kind which will offer a payment for IVF eggs used in research because until now, researchers have only been allowed to ask women to donate eggs which have not yet fertilized for research purposes.
According to Professor Alison Murdoch of the Newcastle team, “We are delighted at the excellent response from women in the North East to this important research. We hope that significant progress will be made in the research and that it will also help many couples to have a family from IVF treatment.â€