When Ayaz Noor’s wife walked out of the bathroom in tears one evening, he never expected what came next.
“She showed me the [pregnancy] test strip,” Noor says. “And now, I’m blessed with a 14-month-old son.”
For Noor and his wife, Sharanya, the moment was life-changing. After seven years of infertility and three devastating pregnancy losses — including one at five months — the couple had started exploring adoption. They had nearly given up hope of conceiving naturally.
With National Infertility Awareness Week approaching April 20–26, Noor’s story highlights an issue that touches more lives than most realize. According to the World Health Organization, roughly 1 in 6 people globally are affected by infertility.
It’s a statistic that hides behind closed doors, whispered between appointments, often accompanied by stigma and silence.
“For us, the emotional toll was heavy,” Noor shares. “As immigrants from a South Asian country, there’s this added pressure. People ask why you haven’t had kids yet, when you’re going to become parents, when you’ll make them grandparents. You carry all of it.”
In a final, last-chance effort, Noor created a makeshift prototype of an idea he had quietly developed: an affordable, at-home medical device designed to increase natural conception for couples struggling with infertility.
With Sharanya’s consent, they tested the prototype.
It worked.
From Idea to Impact
That moment didn’t just change Noor’s life — it sparked a mission to help others.
He began speaking with more than 50 other couples who had experienced similar struggles.
“Every single one said they’d be happy to have a solution like this,” he recalls.
That device became PregEase — an easy-to-use, discreet, at-home option for couples seeking to avoid costly and emotionally taxing clinical procedures. Currently undergoing clinical trials at St. Boniface Hospital in Winnipeg, PregEase is being developed to support natural conception in a way that’s affordable, accessible, and empowering.
But as with any medical innovation, especially in a highly regulated space, there was a key step that needed to come early: intellectual property protection.
How ElevateIP Made It Possible
“When I had this idea, the first thing I wanted to do was protect it,” says Noor. “Then I learned about ElevateIP through the North Forge Base Camp and Pathfinder programs.”
Backed by the Government of Canada, ElevateIP helps Canadian innovators identify, protect, and leverage their intellectual property as they grow. For Noor, the program offered both funding and guidance at a critical stage.
“I made sure I had all the documentation ready so I could be one of the first beneficiaries of the ElevateIP funding,” he says. “I got approved, and we filed our provisional patent last June. We’re now preparing our PCT application to protect the idea in other countries.”
This step was essential.
“Big companies could replicate it and price it out of reach,” Noor explains. “But my whole reason for doing this is to keep it affordable — for families like mine.”
Thanks to ElevateIP, PregEase is well on its way.
Personal Sacrifice, National Potential
Behind Noor’s technical journey is a powerful personal story — one that reflects the emotional weight so many families silently carry.
“For us, the emotional toll was heavy,” Noor says. “As immigrants from a South Asian country, there’s this added pressure. People ask why you haven’t had kids yet, when you’re going to become parents, when you’ll make them grandparents. You carry all of it.”
When the opportunity came to pursue clinical trials and scale development, Noor and his wife made a difficult decision: Sharanya and their son, Zohan, returned to India for a few months so Noor could focus full-time on preparing the product.
“She saw how stretched I was,” he says. “She asked, ‘Would it help if I go back for a bit so you can focus?’ Who asks that? That kind of support — staying strong for our dream — means everything.”
A Future Made in Canada
With clinical trials underway and regulatory approval on the horizon, Noor’s focus remains on making PregEase available to those who need it most.
“This isn’t just a product,” he says. “It brings hope that parenthood might be possible.”
Thanks to ElevateIP, Noor was able to take a deeply personal idea and turn it into a protected innovation — one that could soon help families across Canada and beyond.
To learn more about how ElevateIP is helping founders like Ayaz Noor protect and scale their innovations, visit elevateip.ca.
Learn more about PregEase at pregease.ca.
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