A biotech startup claims it can generate functional sperm in the laboratory for men who produce none naturally, offering hope to those with azoospermia, a condition affecting roughly 1 percent of males and 10 to 15 percent of infertile men.
Current fertility treatments cannot help these patients. In vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection, which injects a single sperm into an egg, both require at least some viable sperm. Men with azoospermia have no options.
The startup's approach involves cultivating sperm from other cell types in controlled lab conditions. This technique builds on decades of research into spermatogenesis, the biological process of sperm development. Scientists have successfully grown sperm-like cells from stem cells and other precursor cells in recent years, though producing fully functional, fertilization-capable sperm remains a technical challenge.
New Scientist columnist Michael Le Page notes that lab-grown sperm technology alone may not solve the problem for many infertile men. He argues that gene editing will likely need to accompany the technique. Men with azoospermia often carry genetic mutations responsible for their condition. Simply growing sperm from cells carrying those same mutations would replicate the original problem.
Gene editing tools like CRISPR could correct disease-causing mutations before cells develop into mature sperm, potentially enabling truly effective treatment. This combination approach raises practical and ethical questions. Regulatory pathways for such therapies remain underdeveloped in most countries. Public acceptance of gene-edited sperm for reproductive purposes remains uncertain.
The startup's claims require independent verification and peer-reviewed publication before clinical translation becomes realistic. Even optimistic researchers estimate several years of additional development remain.