Menotropins

Menotropins (Menopur, historically Pergonal) are a real, urinary-derived combination of FSH and LH-like activity — with a genuinely remarkable origin story: the original product was purified from urine collected from postmenopausal nuns across Italian convents, organized by the company that became Serono in the late 1940s.

What it actually is

Menotropins are a combination of FSH and LH-like bioactivity extracted and purified from the urine of postmenopausal women, used for ovarian stimulation the same way follitropin alfa/beta are, just sourced differently. A real chemistry nuance worth knowing: much of the "LH activity" historically attributed to menotropin preparations is now understood to come substantially from co-purified hCG (which cross-reacts at the same LH receptor) rather than true LH protein — the two hormones weren't easy to fully separate with older purification methods.

A genuinely remarkable origin story

The original menotropin product, Pergonal, traces to work by Italian scientist Piero Donini in the late 1940s for the company that became Serono, who isolated FSH/LH bioactivity from postmenopausal urine. Serono organized collection from postmenopausal nuns across convents in Italy, reportedly with Vatican cooperation, processing the urine at a lab in Rome — a genuinely documented, if unusual, piece of pharmaceutical sourcing history. The first pregnancy commonly attributed to Pergonal dates to the early 1960s. Pergonal was gradually phased out as Serono shifted toward recombinant products; the current brand, Menopur (Ferring), is a more highly purified menotropin preparation.

Current status

Menopur remains actively marketed by Ferring, though it has experienced real, documented intermittent US supply shortages in recent years tied to manufacturing capacity, worth checking current availability directly if this affects a treatment cycle. No grey-market or wellness-adjacent presence.