「第14回国際精子シンポジウム（2024年）の中止について」

　コロナ禍のため2024年に延期されていたカナダのバンクーバーでの第14回国際精子シンポジウムは、Sharon と David Mortimer夫妻の努力にもかかわらず十分な資金が集まらなくな 

り、中止と決定しました。第15回につきましては、2026年にBirmingham のJackson 

Kirkman-Brownより申し出があり、UKのどこかで行われるかと思われますが、詳細は決まり次第お知らせします。（毛利　秀雄）

-----Original Message----- 

From: David Mortimer

Sent: Thursday, April 6, 2023 7:41 AM

To: Lars Bjorndahl ; Jim Cummins ; Gerhard van der Horst ; Eduardo Roldan ; 

Dr Maki Morisawa ; Professor Hideo Mohri ; John Aitken

Cc: Sharon Mortimer ; Gerhard van der Horst

Subject: Re: ISS14 in Vancouver

Dear Friends,

It is with the deepest regret, and an enormous sense of frustration,

that we must write to you today advising that we cannot after all

meet our commitment to put on the ISS meeting in Vancouver in 2024.

As of today, slightly over a year out from the planned meeting dates,

we have received or been promised just CAD $32K (about US $24K) in

sponsorship, which is insufficient for us to meet even the advance

deposits for the accommodation block and book the meeting venue. We

have already discussed the matter with our sole Platinum Sponsor,

Hamilton Thorne Inc, whose payment was to be made in early April, and

will also return the funds received from a Canadian sponsor (CA $750)

and advise the only other agreed sponsor (US $2500) that the 2024

meeting is financially non-viable. Sadly we will lose the CA $8236

initial 5% accommodation deposit that we have already paid

personally, but this is better than losing double that (the second 5%

deposit is due very soon), and being on the hook for a substantial

loss later on.

Besides the extremely disappointing response from industry (more of

which below), costs have risen dramatically since the pandemic, as

well as from the downstream inflationary effects of the

Russia-Ukraine conflict. With so little sponsorship available we are

looking at a basic registration fee of almost CA $1200 (+5% GST),

with no opportunity for earlybird or discounted trainee rates. And

the conference dinner would have been an extra CA $200-$250, with no

sponsorship funds available to support a discounted price for trainees.

Moreover, substantially higher airfares would also have threatened

our anticipated number of registrants, and that would have further

compounded the risk of a substantial financial loss with so few

sponsorship dollars.

Based on these figures we were left with the inescapable conclusion

that the ISS meeting planned for Vancouver in 2024 is no longer

financially feasible. Moreover, following the financial stresses of

the pandemic, our company, Oozoa Biomedical, is no longer is a

position to underwrite even a small loss, which had been our fallback

position when we presented our proposal back in 2017.

As advice to possible future ISS convenors, the industry situation

has changed hugely in recent years due to extensive corporate

takeovers and mergers across the assisted conception field (this

includes the acquisition of Microptic by Hamilton Thorne), with these

large corporations (especially those owned by private equity groups)

only being willing to consider sponsoring meetings that are likely to

lead to substantial market opportunities and sales. IVF meetings

continue to be very well supported because companies get to sell huge

amounts of products and services to IVF clinics. Animal production

companies and suppliers of bull sperm, for example, do not see

spermatology as important to their commercial success either.

Basically, sperm science is not considered to generate significant

sales for anyone except perhaps CASA companies, but this is very

small compared to the IVF market, and even they have proven unwilling

to sponsor an ISS meeting - at least at this time - with the sole

exception of Hamilton Thorne.

Indeed, Hamilton Thorne Inc have expressed their intention to be a

major sponsor for the next ISS meeting, whenever and wherever it

might be held. The contact there is Mr Brett Fulton, Senior Vice

President and General Manager.

Additionally, the current changeover in regulatory schemes for all

medical devices in the EU and UK has led to massive expenditure by

industry to re-register products that were already fully approved and

commercialized. As an example, one small company we know, which has

just eight products, is having to spend about $500K simply to prepare

all the required documentation to re-register the same, safe,

products! Some companies are even out of the market until they can

complete these re-registrations, but hopefully this will all have

settled within a couple of years. This has created a further reason

for companies to decline sponsorship at this time.

Sharon and I greatly appreciate the trust that you placed in us to

organize an ISS meeting, and we have spent a great deal of time

exploring all possibilities to make it happen. But this post-pandemic

world is very a different place, with a very different, brutally

pragmatic and fiscally restricted, corporate biomedical industry than

we had even 5 years ago.

Finally, to our dear friend Jim, we are sorry that we are unable to

create the student travel awards for 2024 using your bequest. We must

leave it to the Steering Committee to consider how your legacy might

be honoured. Please do not have the funds transferred to the account

we provided information for as it will be closed soon. Perhaps

someone else on the Steering Committee might be able to hold the

funds in trust for you / your estate until the next meeting organizer

is known.

We thank you all again for having given us the opportunity to convene

an ISS meeting, and it is with huge regret, sadness and

disappointment that we have had to let you all down. We will, of

course, provide as much help as we can to whoever takes on the

convenorship of the next ISS meeting.

Very best wishes to you all,

David & Sharon