Vancouver, Canada: Fertility drug maker Swiss-based Ferring Pharmaceuticals is facing allegations that certain batches of its fertility drug, Bravelle, are defective. In October 2015, Ferring announced that four lots of Bravelle, sold between 2014 and 2015 in the US and Canada, had displayed "reduced potency" in tests. This reduced potency could result in reduced therapeutic effect.
According to the allegations, although following the treatment plan, which cost CDN $14,000, 36-year old Amanda Olthuis was unable to conceive. The IVF cycle failed and the batch of Bravelle that Olthuis used was recalled.
Bravelle is designed to help women's ovaries produce more eggs, often in combination with another hormone for growth and ovulation, as part of a cycle of in vitro fertilization.
