Sera Prognostics: Preterm Birth Prevention with Protein
During the recent JPM Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, Zhenya Lindgardt, the CEO of Sera Prognostics, shared insights with MobiHealthNews on the company’s groundbreaking mission to prevent preterm birth, a significant contributor to neonatal mortality, by leveraging protein markers to identify at-risk pregnancies.
Zhenya Lindgardt expressed her passion for Sera’s unique approach to women’s health, emphasizing the importance of addressing preterm birth, a prevalent condition affecting one out of 10 pregnancies. With a personal stake in the matter as a mother of three, Lindgardt underscored the urgency of this issue, noting the severe health complications associated with preterm birth, particularly for babies born before 28 weeks of gestation who may spend months in the NICU.
Sera’s innovative strategy revolves around mapping over 300 proteins expressed by the placenta during pregnancy and identifying specific markers, such as IBP4 and SHBG, that signal the risk of preterm birth. By analyzing the ratio between these proteins, Sera can accurately stratify women into high-risk and low-risk categories, enabling targeted interventions to prevent premature delivery.
The significance of Sera’s approach lies in its potential to revolutionize prenatal care by offering healthcare providers a reliable tool to predict preterm birth risk early on. Lindgardt highlighted the collaborative efforts with the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine and other key opinion leaders to develop a comprehensive intervention involving low-dose aspirin, vaginal progesterone, and enhanced care management for high-risk pregnancies.
Recent clinical trials, including the prevent, avert, and prime studies, have yielded promising results, prompting the Data Safety and Monitoring Board to halt the trials prematurely due to the remarkable outcomes. The intervention demonstrated a 20% improvement in neonatal health outcomes, as measured by a reduction in neonatal mortality and morbidity, and a significant decrease in hospital length of stay for preterm infants.
Physicians have embraced Sera’s innovative approach with enthusiasm, recognizing the pressing need for robust screening tools to identify pregnancies at risk of preterm birth. The lack of definitive methods to predict preterm birth has long been a challenge for healthcare providers, who strive to allocate resources effectively and provide targeted care to expectant mothers in need.
The potential of Sera’s predictive test to preemptively address complications before they arise represents a significant advancement in maternal-fetal healthcare, offering a ray of hope for families and healthcare professionals alike. As more providers adopt this groundbreaking approach, the landscape of prenatal care is poised for a transformative shift towards proactive risk assessment and personalized interventions tailored to each mother’s unique needs.
