# Menopur/Gonal F v Puregon - is there much difference?



## applesandpears (Apr 2, 2009)

I was given 225 iu Menopur on my first cycle and had dd despite a poor response - 4 eggs, 1 fertilised. On my second cycle was given 300iu Gonal F and had much better response - 14 eggs, 7 fertilised. 2 embryos put back and no joy. 4 eggs frozen and became pregnant when 2 embryos put back but then miscarried.  Have just been to see another doctor who uses CRM in London and he is recommending Puregon. Someone on one of the other threads suggested posting here and asking you Maz. Thanks in advance.


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## mazv (Jul 31, 2006)

Hi Applesandpears,

I'm assuming you're asking what the difference between the three drugs is? Have quoted from a previous thread on here that hopefully explains it...



mazv said:


> Menopur, Gonal-F and Puregon are all types of gonadotrophins used to stimulate follicle growth but there are subtle differences between them. Menopur is a combination of FSH & LH, Gonal-F is follitropin alpha and Puregon is follitropin beta (human FSH is made up of 2 units of follitropin; an alpha and a beta) Basically thay all do the same thing and there have been various trials and reviews over recent years comparing these drugs to see if one is better than another. A lot of recent research has focussed on drugs that combine FSH & LH (Menopur is an example) to see what difference the addition of LH has to stimms response. There is some evidence that women (especially older >35) may respond better to this in terms of numbers of eggs and also some evidence that some aspects of embryo quality improve. Problem with the trials though is that numbers tend to be small (for obvious reasons) and the variables are so great that it's hard to eliminate bias and proove statistically that one drug is better than another  Bottom line in all the trials is that although egg numbers or quality might seem to be better the end result of live pregnancy rates do not appear to be much different (otherwise clinics would all use the best one  ). Probably need another few years of research and higher numbers of trial patients before there are enough numbers to crunch to see staistically if there really is a difference.
> 
> Hard to know really what makes one person respond well to drugs and another not  but age and reasons for IF certainly play a part in response. Our clinic always said that the average number of eggs per cycle was 7 so they were always aiming for that number in a cycle. My first cycle was Gonal-F and I got 3 eggs so I was swapped to Menopur and got 7 and 5 eggs on subsequent cycles. Clinic said that they sometimes got a better response with Menopur if Gonal F didn't have a good response and this was the case for me.


Hope this helps
Maz x


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## applesandpears (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks very much for your reply Maz.


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