Two 'devastated' couples are suing a biotech company after their IVF embryos were destroyed in a 'toxic' oil

• Two couples are suing a biotech company, alleging a "toxic" batch of embryo oil destroyed their embryos.
• Fujifilm Irvine Scientific Inc. recalled four lots of oil, three of which tested positive for toxicity.

Two "devastated" couples undergoing IVF in the hopes of having children are now suing a global biotechnology company after their embryos were destroyed upon coming into contact with defective lots of the manufacturer's protective embryo oil, according to court documents obtained by Insider.

A Los Angeles-based couple filed a lawsuit against Fujifilm Irvine Scientific, Inc. earlier this month, alleging the company acted with disregard toward their "precious and irreplaceable embryos" by failing to sufficiently test or inspect its embryo culture oil — a substance used in IVF processes around the globe to help prevent evaporation and keep pH levels stable among the cultures.

The oil, which was meant to protect the embryos and ensure their survival, instead led to their destruction, said Adam Wolf, an attorney for the anonymous couple, wrote in the lawsuit filed in Orange County earlier this month.

"They may no longer be able to have children with their genetic material as a result," Wolf told Insider.

Joseph Metzger, a spokesperson for Fujifilm, said in a statement to Insider that the company will respond to legal claims in the legal process.

A second couple based in Idaho, who also lost embryos after they came into contact with the toxic oil, also filed a lawsuit against Fujifilm, Wolf told Insider. Since filing the complaints, Wolf said his firm has fielded approximately 50 calls from additional people who say their embryos were also compromised by Fujifilm's oil.

"People quite understandably become emotionally attached to their embryos," Wolf said. "These embryos represent their hopes and dreams of having children and it's devastating to people when they find out that their embryos were killed by contaminated oil through no fault of their own and no fault of their fertility clinic, but due to misconduct of the manufacturer of this oil."

In mid-January, Fujifilm recalled four lots of its embryo culture oil including lots that came into contact with the plaintiff couples' embryos, according to the lawsuits obtained by Insider.

The recall was prompted by consumer complaints about the oil's impact on embryos, Fujifilm said in a January press release. The California-based manufacturer said it then tested the reported lots and discovered "oil toxicity" in three of the four recalled lots, all of which were derived from the same raw material.

Metzger told Insider the company issued the recall in "consideration of customer complaints," as well as "out of an abundance of caution," and based on the results of its internal investigation.

Embryos didn't survive the storage process

"When people go through fertility treatments they know that there is a possibility, through no fault of anybody, that their treatment may not be successful," Wolf said. "But what they don't sign up for is a near certainty of failure due to the inexcusable conduct of the oil manufacturer."

Many couples were informed by clinics that their embryos didn't survive the storing process prior to Fujifilm's recall notice, according to Wolf. It was only after Fujifilm announced the recall that several clinics reached back out and said "we finally have an explanation as to why this happened," Wolf said.

The embryos belonging to both couples who are suing Fujifilm were viable prior to coming into contact with the toxic oil, the lawsuits allege.

The company sent a letter to all clinics and labs that purchased product from the four recalled lots, instructing them to quarantine, return, or destroy any remaining oil they had in inventory.

Both lawsuits allege Fujifilm was negligent in failing to recall the four lots of oil earlier than it did.

"I think it's vitally important that we get accountability from Fujifilm so that it doesn't commit the same misconduct against and so that other companies are likewise more careful in the future," Wolf said.

"No amount of money will make this fully right, but it is one thing that is in Fujifilm's control," Wolf said.