From Two Weeks to Two Days: How Gameto Is Revolutionizing IVF for Patients and Investors

For most patients, IVF is both a lifeline and a gauntlet of injections, appointments, side effects, and financial strain. The science has delivered remarkable success rates, but the experience has barely changed in decades.

Gameto is rewriting that experience by cutting the most intensive part of IVF from roughly two weeks of hormone injections to just two or three days, using engineered ovarian support cells instead of pushing the body to its limits. In this blog, we walk through how Gameto's approach works, why it matters for patients and clinics, and how Portfolia is backing this shift as part of our broader women's health investing strategy for accredited investors.

Why Does IVF Need a New Kind of Innovation in Women's Health?

For the millions of people worldwide struggling with infertility, in vitro fertilization represents both extraordinary hope and extraordinary burden. According to the World Health Organization, approximately one in six people of reproductive age experience infertility at some point in their lives, a prevalence the WHO has called "staggering." Yet despite IVF's transformative potential, the core protocol has remained largely unchanged for decades. It presents significant barriers that prevent many patients from pursuing or completing treatment.

The standard IVF journey begins with a grueling two week hormone stimulation protocol. Patients must self administer daily injections of powerful fertility medications, often 10 to 14 consecutive days of shots, to stimulate their ovaries to produce multiple mature eggs. This process requires frequent monitoring visits to fertility clinics for blood draws and ultrasounds, sometimes every other day as patients approach egg retrieval. The physical side effects can be substantial. Bloating, abdominal discomfort, mood swings, headaches, breast tenderness, and fatigue are common companions throughout the stimulation phase.

Beyond routine discomfort, the high dose hormone approach carries more serious risks. Ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome remains the most significant iatrogenic complication of IVF, occurring when ovaries over respond to stimulation medications. In mild cases, OHSS causes painful swelling and fluid retention. In severe cases, it can lead to hospitalization, blood clots, kidney failure, and in rare instances, death. Research published in medical journals has documented that subfertile women score higher on anxiety and depression scales before and during IVF treatment, with the hormonal fluctuations themselves potentially contributing to psychological distress.

The financial burden compounds the physical and emotional toll. In the United States, a single IVF cycle typically costs $15,000 to $30,000 when including procedures, medications, and genetic testing. With most patients requiring two to three cycles to achieve a successful pregnancy, total costs frequently reach $40,000 to $60,000.

Insurance coverage remains inconsistent. Only a minority of states have laws mandating any fertility treatment coverage, and many plans exclude IVF entirely. As a WHO analysis noted, high costs create a medical poverty trap for those affected, with patients in lower income countries often spending more than their entire annual income on a single treatment cycle.

These barriers help explain why nearly half of women in the United States never reach their maternity goals, despite wanting children. The traditional IVF protocol, while effective, has created a situation where treatment is inaccessible or intolerable for large segments of the infertile population.

For investors focused on women's health, this reality represents both a human tragedy and a market failure that is ready for innovation.

Who Is Gameto and What Problem Are They Solving?

Gameto emerged from a recognition that the fundamental challenge in IVF is not just fertilization, it is the way eggs are matured.

Founded by Dr. Dina Radenkovic, a physician turned entrepreneur, and Martin Varsavsky, founder of one of North America's largest fertility clinic networks, the company developed its technology platform in collaboration with Professor George Church's laboratory at Harvard Medical School. Their core thesis is simple but powerful. If you could mature eggs outside the body rather than inside the ovary, you could eliminate the need for most of the hormone stimulation that makes IVF so burdensome.

The company's lead product, Fertilo, uses engineered ovarian support cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells to recreate the natural egg maturation environment in a laboratory setting. In traditional IVF, high dose hormones stimulate the ovaries to mature multiple eggs simultaneously over two weeks. Fertilo takes a different approach. Immature eggs are retrieved after minimal stimulation and then co cultured with Gameto's proprietary support cells, which provide the biochemical signals necessary for egg maturation outside the body.

Gameto is not a single product company. The underlying cell engineering platform has applications across the entire spectrum of ovarian health. In addition to Fertilo, the company is developing Ameno, a cell therapy program for menopause that recently received $10 million in funding from a major women's health initiative. With over one billion women expected to experience menopause by 2025 and few effective treatments available, Ameno aims to address the root causes of menopausal symptoms rather than simply masking them. The company is also building Deovo, an in vitro organoid platform for drug discovery and safety testing focused on the female reproductive system.

For investors, this platform approach matters. Rather than betting on a single product's success, Gameto's technology creates multiple potential revenue streams and applications. The same cell engineering capabilities that mature eggs for IVF could restore hormone production in menopause, model ovarian disease for drug development, or enable entirely new therapeutic approaches not yet conceived.

How Does Gameto's Two to Three Day Protocol Change the IVF Experience?

The difference between traditional IVF and a Gameto enabled cycle is dramatic.

Where standard protocols require 10 to 14 days of daily hormone injections, Fertilo reduces this to just two to three days. According to company data, this eliminates approximately 80 percent of the hormone injections required in conventional IVF.

For patients, this transformation extends far beyond counting needles. Fewer injection days mean:

• Fewer clinic monitoring visits and less time away from work or caregiving
• Dramatically reduced exposure to the hormones that cause side effects
• A significantly lower risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome

The abbreviated protocol is particularly important for younger women and those with polycystic ovary syndrome, who are at elevated risk for this dangerous complication.

Imagine what a future Gameto supported IVF cycle might look like. A patient undergoes five days of oral medication and receives just two injections, rather than enduring nearly two weeks of daily shots. Her eggs are retrieved in a standard outpatient procedure, but instead of needing them to be fully mature at retrieval, immature eggs can be collected and finished in the laboratory using Fertilo's support cells.

The entire egg maturation phase takes three days in the lab rather than two weeks in her body. Embryos develop normally, can undergo genetic testing if desired, and are transferred within approximately two months.

The mother who delivered the first baby conceived using Fertilo described her experience this way. The Fertilo method was the preferred option compared to traditional approaches. With fewer injections and a gentler, less invasive egg retrieval process, it gave her hope and reassurance during a deeply personal journey. Fertilo's innovative approach made the physical experience easier and lightened the emotional burden of many hormone injections.

This gentler approach could fundamentally expand who can access IVF. Women who have previously been deterred by the physical demands of traditional protocols, including those with needle phobias, busy professionals who cannot manage daily clinic visits, caregivers who cannot take two weeks away from responsibilities, or patients who have experienced severe side effects in previous cycles, may find Fertilo opens a door that was previously closed.

What Is the Science Behind Gameto's Approach?

How Do Engineered Ovarian Support Cells Work?

To understand Fertilo, it helps to understand what happens naturally inside a woman's ovary.

Eggs do not mature in isolation. They develop within structures called follicles, surrounded by specialized support cells that provide essential nutrients, hormones, and signaling molecules. These support cells communicate constantly with the developing egg, responding to signals from the brain and coordinating the complex dance of maturation that prepares an egg for fertilization.

Traditional IVF relies on external hormone injections to override this natural system, flooding the body with signals that force multiple follicles to mature simultaneously. Gameto's approach is fundamentally different. Rather than forcing maturation inside the body, they recreate the supportive environment outside it.

Fertilo starts with induced pluripotent stem cells, cells that can be directed to become virtually any cell type. Gameto has developed proprietary methods to transform these stem cells into ovarian support cells that behave like the natural cells surrounding eggs in the ovary. When immature eggs are placed in culture with these engineered support cells, they receive the biochemical cues needed for maturation, without requiring the patient's entire endocrine system to be pushed into overdrive.

Early research has demonstrated that this approach can produce eggs and embryos of comparable quality to traditional methods, with the key advantage of requiring far less hormonal intervention in the patient.

What Do Early Clinical Results Tell Us?

In December 2024, Gameto announced a historic milestone, the world's first live birth using Fertilo technology. The baby was delivered at Santa Isabel Clinic in Lima, Peru, marking a turning point in reproductive medicine.

This was proof of concept that induced pluripotent stem cell based therapy could successfully support human reproduction.

Following this achievement, the company has continued to build clinical momentum. In early 2025, regulators cleared Gameto's application for a Phase 3 clinical trial in the United States, enabling the launch of the first large scale randomized trial for this type of in vitro egg maturation.

The Phase 3 study will evaluate key outcomes including:

• Embryo development and quality
• Pregnancy rates at 12 weeks as the primary efficacy endpoint
• Maternal health outcomes and side effect profiles
• Live birth rates and neonatal health

The study will be conducted across multiple U.S. sites, with leading fertility clinics among the first to begin enrollment. Participants will undergo the abbreviated stimulation protocol, up to two days of hormonal injections rather than the traditional two weeks, followed by egg retrieval and maturation using Fertilo.

Beyond the U.S. trial, Gameto has secured regulatory clearance for Fertilo in several international markets. Partnerships with leading clinic networks allow Gameto to generate real world clinical data while pursuing U.S. approval.

For investors, these clinical and regulatory milestones are key inflection points that will determine both the pace of adoption and the value of the company over time.

How Big Is the Market Opportunity?

The global fertility market represents one of the most significant growth opportunities in healthcare.

Market analyses estimate that the global IVF market was valued in the tens of billions of dollars in 2024 and is projected to grow at high single digit to low double digit annual rates over the next decade. The broader fertility services market, which includes IVF plus ancillary services, is expanding even faster as awareness increases and technology improves outcomes.

Several powerful forces are driving this growth:

• Infertility affects one in six people worldwide
• People are delaying childbearing to later ages, which increases reliance on fertility care
• Conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis are increasingly recognized and diagnosed
• Awareness and acceptance of fertility treatment have grown, reducing stigma

Yet despite this massive market, significant barriers to treatment persist. The cost, time, and physical burden of traditional IVF deter many potential patients from ever beginning treatment or cause them to abandon treatment before achieving pregnancy. Research suggests that the physical and psychological demands of IVF contribute significantly to treatment discontinuation even among patients who have not yet succeeded.

This is where Gameto's value proposition becomes particularly compelling. By dramatically reducing the burden of treatment, Fertilo could expand the total addressable market by bringing IVF within reach of patients who would never have considered it under traditional protocols.

A shorter, safer, less invasive treatment could also improve completion rates among those who start treatment, increasing success rates not through better technology alone but by keeping patients in treatment longer.

The platform's applications beyond fertility further expand the opportunity. The menopause market represents another massive unmet need. Over one billion women worldwide experience menopause, yet effective treatment options remain limited. Gameto's Ameno program targets this market with cell therapies designed to restore hormonal balance, potentially addressing not just acute symptoms but the long term health consequences of menopause including cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and cognitive decline.

How Does Gameto Fit Portfolia's Women's Health Investing Thesis?

Portfolia has pioneered the thesis that women's health represents one of the most compelling investment opportunities of this generation. As the first venture fund focused exclusively on women's health, Portfolia has built a portfolio of more than 100 investments across over 46 portfolio companies, making it one of the most active investors globally in this space. Our investment philosophy centers on identifying markets where both unmet need and impact potential are exceptionally high.

Women's health broadly meets this criterion. Research shows that women spend more of their lives in poor health compared to men, yet only a small share of global healthcare research and development funding goes to women's health conditions. This funding gap creates both a moral imperative and an investment opportunity. Companies that address these neglected conditions can achieve outsized returns while making meaningful impact.

Fertility and reproductive health sit at the heart of Portfolia's investment thesis. Family building represents one of the most profound human experiences, and the barriers that prevent people from achieving their reproductive goals cause immense suffering. IVF specifically addresses a condition that affects one in six people worldwide, yet remains inaccessible to many due to cost, time, and physical burden. Innovation that expands access while improving the patient experience directly aligns with our mission.

Gameto exemplifies the type of company we seek for Fund IV:

• The science is rigorous, built on induced pluripotent stem cell technology developed in collaboration with a leading academic lab
• The platform is broad, with applications spanning fertility, menopause, and drug discovery
• The team combines deep scientific expertise with operational experience in fertility care
• The potential impact is transformational if Fertilo succeeds, it could fundamentally change how IVF is delivered

Gameto also complements other investments in Portfolia's portfolio across the reproductive health continuum. From diagnostic companies identifying fertility challenges earlier, to platforms improving the IVF patient experience, to companies addressing menopause and midlife health, our portfolio takes a comprehensive view of women's reproductive lives.

Gameto's platform approach, with Fertilo for fertility and Ameno for menopause, reflects this lifecycle perspective.

What Should Investors Watch as Gameto Scales?

Clinical and Regulatory Milestones

The most critical near term milestones revolve around the Phase 3 clinical trial.

Investors should watch for:

• Enrollment progress across the planned trial sites
• Interim safety data and side effect profiles
• The primary efficacy endpoint of pregnancy rates at 12 weeks
• Longer term readouts such as live birth rates and neonatal outcomes

Positive Phase 3 results would significantly de risk the technology and could trigger a major valuation inflection. Beyond headline pregnancy rates, the quality of clinical data matters. Patient reported outcomes around side effects, treatment satisfaction, and willingness to undergo additional cycles will help establish the patient experience advantage that is central to Gameto's value proposition.

International expansion also bears watching. With regulatory clearances already in hand across multiple countries and partnerships with leading fertility networks, Gameto can generate meaningful real world evidence while pursuing U.S. approval.

Adoption Signals from Clinics and Patients

Clinical adoption will ultimately determine Fertilo's commercial success.

Early indicators to monitor include:

• The pace of clinic partnership announcements
• Feedback from fertility specialists on workflow integration and outcomes
• Published case reports or clinical series from early adopter clinics

Patient demand will be equally important. Signals such as waitlist size at participating clinics, patient inquiries, and social media engagement around treatment experiences can provide early insight into whether the shorter, gentler protocol is resonating as expected.

Business Model Resilience

Gameto's business model will evolve as the technology matures. Potential revenue approaches include per cycle fees charged to fertility clinics, platform licensing arrangements with clinic networks, or other partnership models.

The company's competitive moat will be built through:

• Proprietary cell engineering technology and intellectual property
• Manufacturing expertise that ensures consistent cell quality at scale
• Clinical data demonstrating safety and efficacy
• Relationships with leading fertility networks and clinicians

Potential exit paths include strategic acquisition by larger fertility platforms or healthcare companies, or continued growth as an independent company through additional funding rounds and eventual public markets.

How Can Investors Partner with Portfolia?

Portfolia has built a distinctive model for investing in women's health that combines sophisticated venture investing with a community of nearly two thousand engaged members.Our members, many of whom have personal experience with the conditions our portfolio companies address, contribute not just capital but insights, professional expertise, and network connections that help our companies succeed.

This community informed approach is particularly valuable in complex healthcare markets like fertility, where patient experience matters enormously and word of mouth drives adoption. When our members evaluate companies like Gameto, they bring perspectives that complement traditional financial analysis.

Women's Health Fund IV provides accredited investors with diversified exposure across the full spectrum of women's health innovation. This includes fertility and reproductive health, menopause and midlife wellness, autoimmune conditions that disproportionately affect women, cardiovascular health as the leading killer of women, and more.

This diversification allows investors to participate in the women's health opportunity broadly while any single company's clinical or commercial risk is balanced across the portfolio. For investors who believe that transforming IVF could improve millions of lives while generating strong returns, and who want to be part of a community accelerating change across women's health, Portfolia offers a way to participate.

If you are an accredited investor interested in backing companies like Gameto through Portfolia's women's health funds, you can contact our team to learn more about current fund opportunities and next steps. The journey from two weeks to two days represents more than a technical achievement. It represents a rethinking of who gets to build families, and an investment opportunity aligned with one of healthcare's most significant unmet needs.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Portfolia is an investor in Gameto. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk including possible loss of principal.

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