SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Mirvie, a pioneer in predicting unexpected pregnancy complications, today announced it has raised a total of $90 million to date following the close of its Series B funding. The financing was led by Decheng Capital with additional funding from funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, Foresite Capital, General Catalyst, GV, Khosla Ventures, and Mayfield as well as a debt facility with Comerica Bank. The funding will support Mirvie’s continued clinical and commercial development of the proprietary Mirvie RNA platform, which is the first to predict preeclampsia and preterm birth months before they happen by revealing the underlying biology of each pregnancy.[1],[2]
Unexpected complications affect one in five pregnancies, with large economic costs and lifelong health consequences for expecting parents and babies.[3],[4] They contribute to $50 billion in healthcare costs annually in the United States and European Union alone.[5] Yet, women, expecting parents and doctors lack a reliable way to detect complications before symptoms appear and the tools needed to understand their underlying causes.
For the first time in history, the Mirvie RNA platform can reveal the distinct underlying biological causes of unexpected complications that were only hypothesized before.[1],[2] Peer-reviewed, clinical evidence shows this breakthrough has the power to transform how we detect, prevent, and treat pregnancy complications. It enables tailoring existing interventions to patients based on their unique biology and allows the development of new interventions directly targeting their distinct causes.
Landmark research published in Nature (January 2022) demonstrates the Mirvie RNA platform can identify 75% of women who go on to develop preeclampsia months before symptoms occur. Mirvie is currently developing a test designed to predict preeclampsia, which recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Breakthrough Device designation. Additionally, research published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology (April 2022) shows the platform can predict 76% of early preterm birth cases and identify distinct biological pathways driving its development.
“At Mirvie, we find it unacceptable that pregnancy health has not advanced meaningfully in decades,” said Maneesh Jain, Co-Founder and CEO of Mirvie. “We believe the Mirvie RNA platform can shape a new future of predictive, preventive, and personalized pregnancy care for the well-being of millions of expecting parents and babies. We are thrilled to welcome several top-tier investors who recognize this staggering unmet need and have backed us to make a difference.”
“Mirvie is a trailblazer in a field desperate for innovation to address the often devastating and costly lifetime consequences of pregnancy complications,” said Min Cui, Ph.D., Founder and Managing Director of Decheng Capital and lead investor of the funding. “This funding syndicate is committed to supporting Mirvie’s objective to provide clinicians, expecting parents and babies with breakthrough innovation that makes what is impossible today into a reality.”
Seven-time Olympic gold-medalist and maternal health advocate Allyson Felix also joined the financing as a new investor. Felix and her daughter survived severe preeclampsia that resulted in a premature delivery eight weeks early. In March 2021, she joined the CDC’s Hear Her campaign to raise awareness about life-threatening pregnancy complications.
About The Mirvie RNA Platform
The proprietary Mirvie RNA platform combines revolutionary analysis of tens of thousands of RNA messages from the baby, the placenta and the mom, with machine learning. The platform opens a new window into pregnancy health for expecting parents to act and their doctors to intervene before unexpected complications become a crisis. It enables proactive, preventive, and personalized pregnancy care for the well-being of expecting parents and babies. Mirvie is conducting ongoing clinical research to validate existing peer-reviewed evidence, to enhance the Mirvie RNA platform performance, and to improve the understanding of other pregnancy complications.
About Mirvie
Mirvie is shaping the future of pregnancy health by providing women, expecting parents and their doctors with an early detection window to intervene before unexpected pregnancy complications become a crisis. One in five pregnancies is impacted by complications that lead to lifelong health consequences for expecting parents and babies. The proprietary Mirvie RNA platform uses a simple blood test to reveal vital information about a pregnancy’s unique biology and detect complications months before they occur. The idea for Mirvie was sparked by the personal experience of one of the founders whose daughter was born prematurely. Mirvie’s team of world-class scientists and entrepreneurs have brought to market category-first, non-invasive tests in both women’s health and in early cancer detection, used by millions today. Founded in 2018, Mirvie has raised more than $90 million in early-stage financing from top-tier investors, including Decheng Capital, Foresite Capital, General Catalyst, GV, Khosla Ventures, and Mayfield. Mirvie is based in South San Francisco, California. To learn more about Mirvie, please visit www.mirvie.com.
References:
[1]: Rasmussen, M., Reddy, M., Nolan, R. et al. RNA profiles reveal signatures of future health and disease in pregnancy. Nature 601, 422–427 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-04249-w
[2]: Camunas-Soler, J., Gee, E., Reddy, M., et al. LB 2: Early prediction of spontaneous preterm birth in a high-risk population using cfRNA profiling. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology Vol. 226, Issue 1, Supplement , S779, January 01, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajog.2021.12.019
[3]: March of Dimes, Preeclampsia Foundation, IDF, CDC, WHO, UN, Sedgh et al., Reinebrant et al., McNair et al., Mirvie co-morbidity analysis.
[4]: Sedgh G, Singh S, Hussain R. Intended and unintended pregnancies worldwide in 2012 and recent trends. Stud Fam Plann. (2014)
[5]:
- https://hcupnet.ahrq.gov/#setup for aggregate MDC14 and MDC15-related costs
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11362/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK11362.pdf
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28708975/
- https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1089/pop.2009.12303
- https://healthcostinstitute.org/images/pdfs/iFHP_Report_2017_191212.pdf
- https://www.acog.org/clinical/clinical-guidance/committee-opinion/articles/2019/01/cesarean-delivery-on-maternal-request
- All costs adjusted to 2020 dollars via https://www.in2013dollars.com/Medical-care/price-inflation/
- EU grossed up from US based on https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Government_expenditure_on_health and https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData with EU27 being 31% of total US health expenditures ($1.1T vs. $3.6T)
