• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis

1

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI

2

Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 

3

Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
MPWBiotech

OvaScience CEO talks Apple, Facebook and the $9 billion fertility market

By
Matt McCue
Matt McCue
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Matt McCue
Matt McCue
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 16, 2014, 11:54 AM ET
Michelle Dipp, CEO Of OvaScience
Boston Globe—Getty Images

This week, Facebook and Apple announced a benefit that perked up female employees’ ears: Both tech companies will cover the cost of egg freezing. It’s good news for more than women at Facebook (FB) and Apple (APPL). The fertility industry will also benefit from this corporate shift.

Like OvaScience. The fertility treatment company is mixing up the in-vitro fertilization market. It’s not creating new drugs, but instead introducing cutting-edge treatments that look to increase the poor IVF success rate, which is at 30% or less for most women.

OvaScience is led by Michelle Dipp, whose resume reads like a biotech greatest hits list: She has an MD and PhD from the University of Oxford, served as vice president of Sirtris Pharmaceuticals and led the company’s successful $720 million acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2008 before being named a senior vice president and head of CEEDD at GlaxoSmithKline. She went on to co-found OvaScience in 2011 at just 34-years-old.

Dipp talked to Fortune to weigh in on egg freezing as a company perk, the IVF markets that are set to boom and where OvaScience sees its opening in the fertility market.

Fortune: Earlier this week Facebook and Apple both announced that they will cover employees who want to freeze their eggs for up to $20,000 per person. What are your thoughts on this new company perk?

Michelle Dipp: The discussion that Apple and Facebook have sparked about benefits is very important because it brings fertility and fertility treatment options front and center. One in eight women globally struggle with infertility. Unfortunately, many women do not feel comfortable even discussing the topic, as there is often a perceived stigma that goes along with being unable to have a biological child. My hope is that as more companies offer fertility coverage, it will help women feel they have more control over their fertility. When a company supports the health and well-being of its employees and their families, it always benefits the business, too.

Are fertility treatments as a company benefit part of wider trend you’re seeing?

There is a trend in companies covering more fertility-related costs for employees; however, in the U.S. it varies greatly by employer and state. Outside of the U.S., certain countries cover fertility treatments, including Israel and France.

The Atlantic recently had a piece that presented two ways of thinking about this topic: It was another incentive in the perks arms race between tech companies and a sign that egg freezing has reached a kind of cultural normalcy. Where on the spectrum do you think it falls?

Advances in technology have helped make egg freezing a more viable option for women. As the technology has progressed, and more women become aware of the procedure, it makes sense that companies would begin to add it as a benefit for employees. I think it’s important to note that egg freezing is just one option available to women, and it cannot solve all of the underlying causes of infertility.

An Allied Market Research Report published earlier this year valued the global in-vitro fertilization market at $9.3 billion in 2012 with the expectation that it will grow to $21.6 billion by 2020. Where will the growth occur?

International demand accounts for 90% of the IVF market. Regions including Brazil, Latin America, Russia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates are growing at a rate of 30-40%. Japan, the world’s leader in IVF cycles, recently reported it conducted approximately 326,500 cycles in 2012, a large increase over the prior report of approximately 280,000 cycles. We cannot project OvaScience’s growth over the next few years at this time. OvaScience launched our first fertility treatment in select international regions this year. We plan to launch our second treatment in the second half of 2015

What innovations are opening up the market?

For decades, society believed that women were born with a set number of eggs that die over time. It turns out that is not true. Researchers discovered the existence of egg precursor cells, or EggPC cells, which are immature egg cells found in the protective outer cortex of a woman’s ovaries. These cells can actually be matured into fresh, young, healthy eggs.

How is OvaScience using this discovery to create new technologies?

OvaScience is developing three fertility treatments based on the platform. The first is the AUGMENTSM treatment, which was launched in select international regions this year. The AUGMENT treatment uses the energy-producing mitochondria from a woman’s own EggPC cells to supplement the existing mitochondria in her eggs during IVF. Mitochondria is an important component of egg health, and the field discovered years ago that supplementing mitochondria improved IVF success rates.

The second option is the OvaPrimeSM treatment. This is a potential fertility treatment that would enable a woman to expand her egg reserve. OvaPrime places a woman’s own EggPC cells into her ovaries where they may mature into fertilizable eggs during the IVF process. OvaScience is conducting additional proof-of-concept work with OvaPrime and expects to launch the treatment in the second half of 2015.

The third treatment option is the OvaTureSM treatment, which is currently in preclinical development. The OvaTure treatment could help a woman produce healthy, young, fertilizable eggs without hormone injections by maturing a woman’s own EggPC cells into eggs outside of her body. This could provide an important new treatment option for women, particularly for those unwilling or unable to undergo hormone hyperstimulation, such as women diagnosed with cancer.

On a more personal note, you were born and raised in El Paso, Texas. How did you go from there to attending Oxford to becoming CEO of OvaScience in Boston?

I feel fortunate to have been born and raised in a border city that is also home to one of the largest military bases. In El Paso, I was exposed to a multi-cultural community. It was a wonderful place to learn about global health challenges. I trained as a doctor in the U.K. and did some work in South Africa, but quickly turned to scientific research in order to have the potential to help more patients.

I read that Harvard turned you down for undergrad, and now you’re running a company valued at $330 million in the school’s backyard in Cambridge. What did you learn from that rejection?

I wish this had been my first rejection in life. I was also a failed ballerina at the tender age of 12. Joking aside, one of the best experiences of my life was going to Oxford where I made great friends from all over the world. That opportunity has given me a more global perspective that is particularly important in the fertility space.

 

About the Author
By Matt McCue
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in MPW

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in MPW

‘No one was coming to save me’: How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn’t fix
Successreese witherspoon
‘No one was coming to save me’: How Reese Witherspoon built a $900 million company from a problem Hollywood wouldn’t fix
By Sydney LakeMay 17, 2026
2 hours ago
‘Be delusional enough to call yourself something the world hasn’t called you yet’: What powerful women told the class of 2026
NewslettersMPW Daily
‘Be delusional enough to call yourself something the world hasn’t called you yet’: What powerful women told the class of 2026
By Sydney LakeMay 14, 2026
3 days ago
Mrs. Dow Jones on what women get wrong about money
NewslettersMPW Daily
Mrs. Dow Jones on what women get wrong about money
By Sydney LakeMay 13, 2026
4 days ago
lamb
Arts & EntertainmentObituary
Joni Lamb, founder of one of the largest Christian TV networks in the world, dies at 65
By John Seewer and The Associated PressMay 11, 2026
6 days ago
TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett’s 3 rules for Gen Z entering the workforce: Adapt, lean in, and build a bigger table
SuccessGen Z
TIAA CEO Thasunda Brown Duckett’s 3 rules for Gen Z entering the workforce: Adapt, lean in, and build a bigger table
By Sydney LakeMay 11, 2026
6 days ago
nicole
MPWWealth
Meet Goldman’s athlete whisperer: the woman who stands guard against $1 billion of fraud targeting sports fortunes
By Nick LichtenbergMay 10, 2026
7 days ago

Most Popular

Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
Politics
Former top Russian official admits the country is over Putin and can 'imagine a future without him' — even elites bail as Kremlin seizes their assets 
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
15 hours ago
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
Future of Work
Meet the 20-year-old CEO who launched a company in high school to solve Gen Z's entry-level job crisis
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
5 days ago
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
Future of Work
‘You’re not a hero, you’re a liability’: Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary warns Gen Z founders to stop glorifying hustle culture
By Jacqueline MunisMay 16, 2026
1 day ago
Oil markets could be a month away from the moment of truth. Brace for a 'non-linear' price spike and panic buying, analysts warn
Energy
Oil markets could be a month away from the moment of truth. Brace for a 'non-linear' price spike and panic buying, analysts warn
By Jason MaMay 16, 2026
18 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.