We are excited to host David Pépin, PhD, as a plenary lecture speaker at the ASRM 2023 Scientific Congress & Expo. He will be sharing the Camran Nezhat, M.D., Lectureship in Innovations in Medicine titled Development of Novel Non-Hormonal Contraceptives Targeting AMHR2 on Tuesday, October 17, 8:00 to 8:45 AM.

In this session, Dr. Pépin will discuss the development of new, non-hormonal contraceptives. Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a secreted factor produced by granulosa cells of growing follicles that acts in a paracrine manner to mediate feedback on follicle activation, growth, and maturation. Expression of its receptor, AMHR2, is specific to endocrine and reproductive tissues making it an ideal contraceptive target. We have developed methods using recombinant AMH protein, gene therapy, and small molecules to target this pathway and examined their effects on ovarian function in various animal models including mice, rats, and cats. Supraphysiological AMH results in contraception in all these models without adversely affecting ovarian hormonal function. These strategies have led to the identification of new contraceptive drug candidates currently in late preclinical development.

Dr. David Pépin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, an Associate Molecular Biologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital, and the Associate Director of the Pediatric Surgical Research Laboratories of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Pépin is a reproductive biologist with expertise in ovarian biology. His research interests include both female reproductive development and the development of therapeutics for women’s health. In particular, Dr. Pépin has investigated the role of AMH in female reproduction and particularly in the context of ovarian function and disease. His laboratory was the first to describe the contraceptive effect of super-physiological AMH in animal models and elucidate its mechanism of action at the single cell level. He is currently developing therapeutics in late preclinical stage for contraception, assisted reproduction, onco-fertility, and reproductive aging.