All photos from Scott A. Woodward photography and all interior and furniture design fromJJ Acuna / Bespoke Studio
On first peek, the place looks like a high-end spa or a beauty haven. In fact, this is the clinic of GenPrime, a growing fertility network in Asia offering in vitro fertilization (IVF) that has just opened in Manila to make fertility support accessible to Filipino families.
“This is our first location in Manila, and we will open a second location, as well,” said Margaret Wang, founding CEO of GenPrime. “This is our sixth location globally. We are actually in five different cities today—two clinics in Bangkok, one in Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Los Angeles, and now Manila.
“Our mission is to elevate the quality of reproductive health for intended parents globally,” added Wang. “We are looking at the patient experience, the scientific rigor and, of course, the outcome.”
GenPrime doesn’t feel like your generic clinic. Interior designer and architect JJ Acuña designed it with all the elements of lifestyle and hospitality. That’s “intentional,” according to Wang, with the place offering a sense of warmth.
Acuña is well-known for his designs of hospitality establishments—hotels, restaurants. He worked with an IVF architect in New York, Charles Calcagni, who has built some of the best clinics on the East Coast. “Remotely, he was our IVF architect adviser,” Wang said of Calcagni. “We also worked with a local contractor team here.
“When you walk in, you feel well received right away,” Wang said. “Most people who enter a fertility clinic, they are not excited. They are nervous, vulnerable, and they have some anxiety. It’s daunting. When you come in, we want to give you the experience that we want to receive you well, and you can just feel comfortable doing that because we’ll take care of you.”
Patients are ushered into a waiting room. On the side are three consultation rooms. They also do their blood diagnostics with their partner clinic, Eluvo. That really is the start of the patient’s journey. “This is an end-to-end clinic for patients as they come through,” said Wang. “We also do sperm collection here, and andrology. We do sperm assessment, proper recovery, on-site preservation; we have an operating theater and an embryology lab.”
Wang, who is in her late 30s, froze her eggs four years ago in New York. “That experience has shaped what I wanted to bring to GenPrime,” she said. “It’s a tough experience. When we were looking at different cities to build the clinic, we saw Manila had only four IVF clinics then.”
Wang, who came from New York and moved to Singapore, first came to Manila four years ago. “There were only nine clinics to cater to 115 million people all over the country, with only four in Manila,” said Wang. “That’s pretty underserved. This is actually a real opportunity to bring in a different standard of care and more access, and redefine what is this whole reproductive health experience meant to.”
The clinic, at Parqal Mall along Macapagal Ave. in Pasay, is near the airport. “There’s a standard of health care here that matches the rest of the region,” Wang said. “For us, that’s equally important. This lab is built with the same standardization as Singapore and Bangkok.”
Wang noted that the Philippine market is not a big one yet for IVF. “I’ll be super up front about it,” she said. “Historically, fertility is not seen as an issue here. Especially for Gen X and above, it wasn’t a thing that was often talked about. There’s a lot of stigma, too.
“But now, with millennials and Gen Z, the market has broadened. They are waiting longer to have children, since cost of living has increased, and there are a number of social and demographic factors that increase the demand for these services.”
‘Historically, fertility is not seen as an issue here…But now, with millennials and Gen Z, the market has broadened. They are waiting longer to have children’
Known to most people, the IVF procedure is very expensive, which Wang does not deny. The procedure or the full stimulation IVF package costs P620,000, the GenPrime rate. “We are not priced above the market,” insisted Wang. “Although this is a premium experience, we are actually priced below the more expensive clinic here in the Philippines.
“We are finding other ways to bring down that cost, too. In the US, there are employers who give that benefit to their employees to offset the cost. We are starting to work also with local insurance companies in terms of supporting coverage, although they are not yet there.”
GenPrime brings forth price transparency in the cost of procedure, which is in their brochures. “Things get added on in ways you don’t necessarily expect,” said Wang. “Our packages also clear everything that patients are paying, so they know everything upfront. That’s setting the standard in information, giving your patient’s education.”
To freeze the embryos cost half a million, while the egg freezing package costs P400,000 and the minimal stimulation IVF package to freeze all embryos cost P340,000. The fresh embryo transfer costs P430,000.
For different markets, GenPrime has different strategies, which is why they decided to bring IVF outside the hospitals, the first in the Philippines. “In Thailand and Malaysia, we are in corporate office buildings,” Wang said. “Those have been around for over 10 years. Singapore is in a specialty clinic building, where dermatology, radiology clinics are also housed.
“Then we built Manila. Next year, we will bring GenPrime to Jakarta, Indonesia, the first one in Jakarta, and that is in a hospital building. They have a rule around licensing where you need a hospital partner. More of a shop in a shop. Depending on the market, we are really thinking about the clinic’s distance from the patients.
“In Manila, the clinic is very discreet, very private. There’s not a lot of signage. That’s intentional. But we’re with other wellness brands. There’s a semi-private lift with a drop-off downstairs. So we really think about the patient journey and the physical experience.”
There are Filipinos who still go to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, even the US, to seek out IVF services. “Taiwan is merely a quarter of the size of the Philippines, and Taiwan has 110 IVF clinics,” said Wang. “If you can actually have a clinic here in Manila that offers the same level of care, same standard, same end-to-end support, you want something that is close to home.”
There are Filipinos who still go to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, even the United States, to seek out IVF services
GenPrime is a growing network of fertility clinics operated by Rhea Fertility, a global reproductive health platform headquartered in New York and Singapore launched in May 2024.
Genea Fertility in Australia, one of the world’s most established leaders in IVF and reproductive science, is also GenPrime’s close partner on the laboratory side. Rhea Labs powers GenPrime. “But in Thailand and Singapore, which are some of the fertility hubs, the total fertility rate has seen its deepest decline. It’s hovering just below the replacement rate,” said Wang.
At present, there are two IVF doctors who are affiliated with GenPrime. Dr. Anthony Marc Ancheta is the medical director who specialized at the National University Hospital in Singapore, and Dr. Marinella Abat, a reproductive endocrinology expert with over two decades of experience, is the lead IVF specialist.
“We see this clinic as being a platform to develop the next generation of talent, as well,” Wang said. “The embryologists at GenPrime had their training abroad. We’d love for this clinic to be the training ground of fertility specialists this side of the globe.”
GenPrime’s team includes highly trained fertility specialists, embryologists, and nurses whose specialized expertise ensures patients receive advanced and personalized fertility care. These include chief embryologist is Chanakarn Siripong, senior embryologist Geanne Samia, head nurse Stephanie David, and nurse Maricar Moya. Their services include fertility assessment, in-vitro fertilization (IVF), egg freezing, male fertility preservation, intrauterine insemination (IUI), and ovarian rejuvenation.
GenPrime Clinics now employ one of its key technologies developed by Embryonics, where AI (artificial intelligence) is used to support embryo assessment and help guide diagnostic decisions led by AI specialist David Silver.
As the parent company of GenPrime, Rhea Fertility delivers seamless, evidence-based care through a connected ecosystem designed around the patient. Its global platform advances reproductive medicine through medical expertise, AI-driven diagnostics, and strategic partnerships. Beyond science and technology, Rhea Fertility champions ethical, human-centered care with a commitment to supporting intended parents with empathy, clarity ,and trust.
Although Wang is not a doctor, that was her parents’ dream for her. “My parents met in a medical school in Beijing and they moved to the United States,” she said. “I was born and raised in the US. I grew up in Massachusetts and New York, and I was supposed to be a doctor. My father had a 20-year plan for me to be an ophthalmologist. My background is Finance, but my whole family is in healthcare.” Wang holds degrees in Economics from Harvard University and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
“GenPrime is a return home for me,” said Wang. “I work with doctors, but for me, this reminds me of a sense of home. So now, I feel my parents are also proud of me because I’m working in healthcare. Now, I call Singapore my home.”
