Penn’s $50 million life sciences venture fund made its first investment, backing a Philadelphia startup developing pregnancy complication treatments.
The company, Emvena Therapeutics, was founded based on research by bioengineering professor Michael Mitchell and doctoral researcher Kelsey Swingle. The Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund, established in January, invested an undisclosed amount in the startup.
One complication the startup hopes to address, preeclampsia, is a leading cause of maternal and infant illness and death. The disorder affects an estimated 2% to 8% of pregnancies worldwide and causes high blood pressure, which can lead to serious health complications for pregnant patients and their babies.
Current care centers on monitoring the health of the mother and regulating her blood pressure, which sometimes necessitates early delivery. Emvena is aiming to develop a drug that targets the disease itself rather than simply managing its symptoms.
“There is no cure for pre-eclampsia – it is managed by treating the symptoms with steroids or antihypertensive medications, or delivering the baby much earlier than is ideal,” Mitchell wrote in a statement. “Emvena is advancing our lipid nanoparticle technology to deliver mRNA medicines directly to the placenta, where key processes underlying the disease occur.”
When researchers tested the treatment in pregnant mice with preeclampsia in December 2024, they found it reduced maternal blood pressure and improved placental and fetal health.
Mitchell wrote that the startup’s next steps are “validating” the mRNA technology in large animal models, “where pregnancy is longer than it is in mice, and the immune system more closely resembles that of humans.”
Emvena will use Penn’s investment to continue developing its primary treatment and conduct further research before seeking approval for human clinical trials. The company is also looking into whether the technology could be used to address other pregnancy complications.
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The Seed Fund, which Penn founded alongside biotechnology company BioNTech and venture capital firm Osage University Partners, supports life science startups with Penn backgrounds.
Staff reporter Saanvi Ram covers science and health and can be reached at ram@thedp.com. At Penn, she studies health and societies. Follow her on X @Saanvi_vivi.
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