Women Travel Thousands of Miles for Reproductive ‘Moonshot’ IVF Technique, but Scientists Warn They’ve Been Misled

A pioneering IVF technique originally developed to prevent children from inheriting mitochondrial diseases is now being marketed to older women as a fertility treatment, despite a lack of evidence that it works for age-related infertility. Clinics in countries such as Greece, Spain, and Ukraine are offering maternal spindle transfer (MST) and pronuclear transfer to women over 40, charging tens of thousands of dollars. But scientists and fertility experts warn that these procedures have not been proven effective for age-related decline in egg quality, and they raise significant safety and ethical concerns. The technique involves transferring nuclear DNA from an older woman’s egg into a younger donor’s egg that has had its nucleus removed, creating an embryo with genetic material from three people. While it has been used in a handful of cases to avoid mitochondrial diseases, there is no robust clinical data showing it improves pregnancy rates for older women. Regulators in the UK and US have not approved the technique for fertility treatment, but some women are traveling abroad in search of a 'reproductive moonshot.' Experts emphasize that patients may be misled by marketing that overstates the potential benefits while downplaying the risks. As demand grows, there are calls for stricter international oversight and clearer patient information to prevent exploitation of vulnerable women seeking to conceive.