(* a.k.a. “three-parent IVF”)
On 17 July 2025, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFRA) issued the Press Release HFEA comments on the news that eight babies have been born after mitochondrial donation treatment which is reproduced below along with its informative Notes to Editors.
Press Release
HFEA comments on the news that eight babies have been born after mitochondrial donation treatment
The HFEA welcomes the publication of two papers in the New England Journal of Medicine, which details that eight babies have now been born through pioneering IVF technique that reduces the risk of mitochondrial diseases.
Peter Thompson, Chief Executive of the HFEA, said:
“Ten years ago, the UK was the first country in the world to licence mitochondrial donation treatment to avoid passing the condition to children. For the first time, families with severe inherited mitochondrial illness have the possibility of a healthy child. Although it’s still early days, it is wonderful news that mitochondrial donation treatment has led to eight babies being born.
“Only people who are at a very high risk of passing a serious mitochondrial disease onto their children are eligible for this treatment in the UK, and every application for mitochondrial donation treatment is individually assessed in accordance with the law. These robust but flexible regulatory processes allow the technique to be used safely for the purposes that Parliament agreed in 2015.”
Professor Frances Flinter, Chair of the HFEA’s Statutory Approvals Committee, said:
“We are pleased to see the peer-reviewed papers published in the New England Journal of Medicine that explain what has happened to those patients who the HFEA authorised to have mitochondrial donation treatment at the Newcastle Centre at Life. These are patients for whom there was no other option to have a healthy baby who is genetically related to them, and we are delighted for those families.
“The HFEA will continue to oversee the safe use of mitochondrial donation treatment and assess each application as families come through the programme. These results are testimony to how the UK continues to be a world leader in the use of new medical techniques to change lives.”
Ends
For more information or for interviews with a HFEA spokesperson, please contact press.office@hfea.gov.uk or call 020 7291 8226. For out-of-hours requests, please call the duty press officer on 07771 981920.
Notes to editors
- As of 1 July 2025, 35 patients have been given approval for mitochondrial donation treatment by the HFEA Statutory Approvals Committee. These decisions are made on an individual case by case basis where there are no other options for the families involved and in strict accordance with the law. The published papers set out that 25 of those patients have undergone pronuclear transfer (mitochondrial donation treatment.)
- More information can be found about Mitochondrial donation treatment and all decisions are published on our website under Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life ‘reports archive’, Licence Committee – other.
- More information on the law and HFEA guidance can be found in the HFEA Code of Practice from page 307.
Comment
We have followed the development in mitochondrial donation since the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 SI 572 in a series of posts: “Three-parent babies” in UK from today? (29 October 2015); “Three-parent babies” in UK from 2018? (16 March 2017); and “Three-parent babies” in UK from 2017? (19 December 2017).
The choice of these titles reflects the “red top”/”clickbait” headlines rather than our assessment of the likely progress in this area. We recall that this was an issue on which the late Catherine Wybourne, OSB, took a particular interest.