As societies modernized, fertility rates fell significantly. There are probably three main reasons for this: the empowerment of women, a decrease in child mortality, and the rising cost of raising children. As a result, today the global population growth rate has declined to less than 1% per year.
In a new episode of the PharmaForum podcast — recorded during Women’s History Month in March — web editor Nicole Raleigh spoke with Johanna van Hielckema Vlieg, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Freya Biosciences, a Series A-funded, clinical stage, microbial immunotherapy company in women’s health, to discuss the role of the vaginal microbiome in fertility ahead of him speaking at the first-of-its-kind Women’s Health Congress in Copenhagen.
The much-discussed gut microbiome may be complex and not yet fully understood, but the vaginal microbiome is a complex and dynamic microecosystem that undergoes constant fluctuations during the female menstrual cycle, sex, childbirth, menopause — basically, a woman's entire life. But women's health issues have largely not been addressed across the board — they are, after all, not just little men — so it's encouraging to see that a change is happening, and efforts to address this disparity are slowly being invested in, as Vlieg discusses.
The female reproductive microbiota is thought to influence infertility and may play a key role in the success of assisted reproductive technologies (or ARTs) such as embryo transplantation and pregnancy care. Since the birth of the first IVF baby in 1978, assisted reproductive technologies have become safer, more successful and more accessible – and Vlieg explains the role of vaginal microbiota in pregnancy, recent developments in the field looking at their potential in female fertility issues, as well as Freya's reproductive immunotherapy.
You can listen to episode 140a of the PharmaForum podcast in the player below, download the episode to your computer, or find it – and subscribe to the rest of the series – on iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, and Podbean.