Two arrests in Israel after IVF baby with haemophilia variant born

Two fertility clinic staff in Israel have been arrested over the transfer of embryos imported from Georgia, carrying a haemophilia B variant.

This follows an investigation by the Israeli Health Ministry and police which formed a special committee to investigate the situation. The names of the arrested individuals and the medical centres they worked at have not been released due to a court order, Times of Israel reported. One detained individual is reported to be an embryologist and department head at a private clinic, and the other a professor and owner of a private clinic in Tel Aviv, it added.

In total, four complaints about the transfer of 'fertilised eggs' with a genetic mutation during IVF treatment have been made to the police to date. One of the women had already given birth to a child with haemophilia. Another complaint involved a case of a woman who experienced a stillbirth around 20 weeks of pregnancy. Later, genetic tests found that the fetus also carried a haemophilia variant.

Haemophilia B is a hereditary, chromosome X-linked bleeding condition caused by the lack of a blood clotting factor IX. This protein is released in response to bleeding and ensures that blood coagulates properly. If its gene is missing or faulty, as is the case with male offspring with the variant, the deficiency can lead to excess bleeding from cuts, wounds, or after a surgical procedure. Excessive bleeding can also damage joints and cause painful inflammation. Gene therapies for the condition only recently became available at the end of last year, and are not available in many jurisdictions (see BioNews 1202).

Following an order from the Ministry, Israeli Police's fraud division in Tel Aviv, found that the eggs were donated by a woman from Baku, Azerbaijan, but extracted and frozen at the BIRTH Clinic in Batumi, Georgia. The Ministry has placed a halt on transfers of embryos imported from that clinic in Georgia, and called on all IVF clinics in Israel to alert women who might have undergone treatment with embryos imported from anywhere else in the world.

They have not suspended treatment at the affected clinics.

This investigation follows a high-profile, embryo mix-up lawsuit case at another medical centre in Israel, where a child conceived via IVF was found to not be genetically related to either of the parents (see BioNews 1201and 1160). Investigations concluded the error had occurred, in part, due to high workload for staff.