femSense x Fertilabs: New cooperation

We interviewed Claudia Gessler-Zwickl, the likeable founder of Fertilabs, for an interview, where she shared with us the vision behind Fertilabs, as well as her very personal story. 

Hello Claudia. Nice to have you here. Tell us briefly who you are and what you do.

Hello, I'm Claudia, the founder of Fertilabs. I started the brand after my own fertility journey, because unfortunately it wasn't that easy for us. We really waited for months for the second line on the pregnancy test. After a year, we decided to have a medical check-up and the diagnosis was a real shock for us: infertile! 

Doctors signalled to us that it would be very difficult to turn our desire to have children into reality. We then found a fertility clinic that had already done a lot of research into micronutrients and had also published on the subject. The clinic recommended individual micronutrients that we had to import from different countries, such as Italy or Japan. The result was that my husband and I each had 15 different micronutrients in front of us, which we took every day. We then tracked the quality of his sperm and also the embryo quality over a period of months, as we were also carrying out a pregnancy test at the time. IVF treatment and then really saw a significant improvement.

And yes, long story short, we were successful. Our daughter will be 3 years old this year. 

Wow, that really is a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing! And how did you come up with the idea for Fertilabs and VILAVIT?

What surprised us so much at the time was that the current fertility products on the market still contained the same formulation as 20 years ago. In other words, the last few years of research in this field had virtually never been integrated into existing products. The result of this was that we then sought out leading reproductive physicians who worked with us to develop and launch state-of-the-art fertility products, one for men, one for women and one product specifically for pregnancy and breastfeeding. And yes, we have now been on the market with VILAVIT since June 2023. 

What makes VILAVIT so special? 

Our products are micronutrient preparations to promote oocyte and egg production. Sperm quality. They really target follicle and sperm maturation, which sets us apart from conventional preparations. Our aim is to optimise the quality here and for this you need certain nutrients in their bioavailable form so that they also produce the desired effect in the body. We are also different in that we have really integrated all the relevant nutrients that have been identified in the last 2-3 years to support this process into our products. Most preparations do not contain these. VILAVIT contains them in a bioavailable form, which means that the body can absorb them quickly. In addition, VILAVIT is optimally dosed so that it also produces an effect. Most preparations where you take a capsule, for example, have a "Mickey Mouse dosage", so to speak, which in fact cannot produce any effect in the body. 

How many capsules per day do I need to take of your product?

Our product contains 3 capsules for men and 5 capsules for women, which was already the minimum. We discussed the dosage with the experts for a long time and they clearly stated that a lower dosage would not lead to the desired result.

How long did the product development take?

We spent around ten months developing it. This included everything from the development of the recipe to the harmonisation of dosages and laboratory testing. 

You've already mentioned your personal story. What motivates you in general about pregnancy, the unfulfilled desire to have children, etc.?

From my own experience, I know that the topic of unfulfilled desire to have children is unfortunately a big taboo subject. If you receive this diagnosis, you feel infinitely lonely and you don't know who you can confide in. It is therefore very important to me to break this taboo and encourage other couples who are also affected. Often you can actually do something to improve your fertility. And that is my message to all couples out there, that there is still hope. 

Why are you looking forward to the cooperation with femSense?

I am delighted as I believe we both have the same overarching goal, which is to help couples achieve their greatest happiness. We are also both young and motivated companies that appeal to the same target group, so I think it's a perfect fit.

Thank you very much for the nice conversation, dear Claudia!