Embryo Selection Pays Today

Updated: 2025.10.07 14D ago 3 sources
Using polygenic scores, a 30‑year‑old European‑ancestry couple can expect roughly a 5–7 IQ‑point bump for a child and sizable disease‑risk cuts by selecting among IVF embryos. At current prices (≈$25k selection plus IVF), a blogger estimates lifetime earnings gains around $240,000, implying a positive return even before health benefits. A stealth startup, Herasight, claims r≈0.42 IQ prediction in Europeans and competitive disease R² versus rivals. — If embryo selection already delivers measurable gains, policy, ethics, insurance, and inequality debates will need to grapple with rapid, market‑driven uptake of stratifying reproductive technology.

Sources

How Embryo Selection Technology exposes the Transferability Paradox
2025.10.07 80% relevant
It directly cites Herasight’s tool to select embryos for higher predicted IQ and lower disease risk and claims unusually strong within‑family validation, reinforcing the view that embryo selection is already delivering actionable gains (especially in European‑ancestry cases).
Suddenly, Trait-Based Embryo Selection - by Scott Alexander
2025.10.07 90% relevant
The article reports Herasight entering with polygenic scores that purportedly confer 6–9 IQ points and lower disease risk, echoing the existing idea that embryo selection can deliver measurable benefits now and thus alter cost–benefit and policy debates.
Embryo selection in 2025
Sebastian Jensen 2025.09.19 100% relevant
Herasight’s advertised multi‑trait selection (Alzheimer’s, IQ, schizophrenia, type 2 diabetes) and the post’s pipeline model estimating a 4.96‑point IQ gain and net financial benefit.
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