British patients left in limbo after Portuguese IVF clinic closes

UK patients have had their fertility treatment disrupted after a Portuguese fertility clinic was declared insolvent.

Ovom Care, based in Cascais near Lisbon, was founded in London in 2023 and moved its operations to Portugal in May 2025, taking many British clients with it. A Lisbon court declared the clinic insolvent on 25 August 2026. Portugal's fertility regulator, the Conselho Nacional de Procriação Medicamente Assistida (CNPMA), was informed on 27 August, and patients were told by email on the evening of Friday 28 August.

'That weekend was just horrendous. I don't think we slept properly,' Ovom Care patient Rachael Jones, whose embryo transfer had been postponed twice, told the Independent.

At least 38 UK patients are known to be affected, but the clinic is thought to have had around 220 patients, of whom an estimated 60 percent are British, so the actual figure may be much higher.

Affected patients told the Independent that the clinic was still accepting payments in the days before it closed. Some who had not paid by credit card were told that their banks could not recoup the money, with one couple estimating they have lost £32,000.

With CNPMA approval, all stored eggs, sperm and embryos were moved to AVA Clinic in Lisbon, which says it is reviewing clinical records as they arrive. AVA is offering six months' free storage and reduced prices for former Ovom Care patients, noting that transfers outside Portugal require CNPMA authorisation.

Some UK patients have moved to Avenues, a London clinic run by Ovom Care co-founder Dr Cristina Hickman, who left the company in 2024 citing 'fundamental differences in values' with the clinic's venture capitalist backers.

The CNPMA asks clinics to give six months' notice before closing, and Dr Hickman explained that a clinic running out of money should hand over patients' care and stored embryos well before it closes:

'You don't just announce an insolvency and walk away. People remortgage their households to do this treatment. This is the biggest disaster I have seen globally in the IVF sector,' she told the Independent.

Ovom Care's venture capital backers said in a joint statement that management acted on legal advice throughout and cooperated fully with administrators and courts in Portugal and Germany, where the clinic's parent company is also insolvent.

Felicia von Reden, Ovom Care's chief executive, apologised to patients but told the Independent that those who had paid for treatment they did not receive should register a claim with the insolvency administrator.

'We are currently in the process of finding a fair outcome for patients who paid for treatment that was not delivered, and I will communicate further as soon as there is something concrete to share,' she said. 'My focus, and the priority of everyone involved, is making sure patients get the support and answers they need – we are working on this with all the resources we have.'