Carmentix Private Limited (Carmentix), an Esco Ventures-backed startup company, and the University of Melbourne have announced the "Preterm Birth Biomarker Discovery" initiative.
The aim of this collaborative clinical study is to validate novel biomarkers discovered by Carmentix and biomarkers previously discovered and validated at the University of Melbourne in a combined panel and to assess the risk for preterm birth as early as 20 weeks of gestation.
The retrospective study led by Dr Harry Georgiou, PhD and Dr Megan Di Quinzio, MD at the University of Melbourne will validate the statistical strength of the novel biomarker panel.
"Carmentix is excited to begin this collaboration, as we are keen to further develop the biomarkers discovered on our unique data mining platform," said Dr. Nir Arbel, CEO Carmentix. "If validated, this new panel of biomarkers may shed hope to significantly reduce the number of preterm birth cases on a global scale."
Clinical obstetrician and researcher, Dr. Di Quinzio frequently sees mothers asking "why was my baby born prematurely?" There is often no satisfactory answer. "Preterm birth continues to be a global health problem but sadly, reliable diagnostic tools are lacking," said Dr. Georgiou, scientific leader at the University of Melbourne. "This collaborative initiative with a strong commercial partner will help pave the way for a novel approach for better diagnosis and hopefully the prevention of preterm labour.
Carmentix is an Esco Ventures-backed startup company based in Singapore. Carmentix is developing a novel biomarker prognostic panel to significantly reduce the numbers of preterm birth cases by establishing biomolecular tools that will alert clinicians of the preterm birth risk weeks before symptoms occur.
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