Test drug brings happiness to couple trying for baby

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Caren Erasmus and husband Ron had been trying for more than a year to have a baby.

They joined a fertility trial using a new drug that was supposed to increase Mrs Erasmus' chances of conceiving.

But when the good news finally came, the 30-year-old Auckland travel agent couldn't bear to have it confirmed, until her family couldn't stand the wait any longer.

"On January 16, I was supposed to start my next cycle and it didn't come," said Mrs Erasmus.

"I didn't want to test in case it was disappointing. So I left it for about a week and my family gave me a hard time and said, 'You have to get a test; it's killing us'.

"I got a home test and found out straight away I was pregnant."

The pregnancy began two months after the Torbay couple started treatment in the Auckland University-National Women's Hospital trial.

The baby boy, to be named Shane, is due next month. "It's very, very good," said Mrs Erasmus.

Before the trial she was not producing eggs because she has multiple tiny cysts on her ovaries, or polycystic ovary syndrome.

About 20 per cent of women have the cysts but only half of them suffer any symptoms of the syndrome, including obesity, acne and the commonest symptom, infertility from failing to produce eggs.

The established first-line treatment for the infertility is the anti-oestrogen pill clomiphene, a drug that also increases the chances of multiple pregnancy.

The trial is testing a diabetes drug, metformin, as an alternative first-line treatment, and comparing it with clomiphene.

Other studies have shown metformin's usefulness in improving the chances of producing eggs but, unlike this trial, they did not assess pregnancies and births.

One of the underlying problems in women with polycystic ovary syndrome is thought to be insulin resistance, which is also the cause of much type 2 diabetes.

Dr Neil Johnson, one of the researchers on the trial, said its early results looked promising. Six of the nearly 40 women on the trial had become pregnant so far, but it was impossible to calculate the pregnancy probabilities yet.

This was because women were still going through the trial and neither they nor the researchers yet knew who was receiving the active drugs and who was taking inert placebos, which were being used for comparison with metformin in one arm of the trial.

Mrs Erasmus was diagnosed with the syndrome only after she started trying to become pregnant. Her twin also has the condition. She gave birth to a boy in February after treatment with clomiphene.

* Women who want to join the trial can call Jan Falkiner on (09) 630-9943, ext 3230.