Recipient: Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine at Helmholtz Society (MDC)
Funding: Go-Bio initial (01/10/2022 to 30/09/2023, EUR 95,418.88)

Project description:

Pre-eclampsia is a pregnancy disease and affects about five to ten percent of all pregnancies worldwide. There are no suitable therapies that equally take mother and child into account. Preventive administration of low-dose aspirin may reduce the risk of developing pre-eclampsia. However, to do this the active ingredient must be administered early in pregnancy. Early and evidence-based risk assessment is therefore of great importance. Researchers at the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine have developed a method that makes it possible to predict for or against the development of pre-eclampsia during pregnancy. This method is based on the mass spectrometric determination of metabolites of polyunsaturated fatty acids, so-called oxylipins, in the maternal blood during an early stage of pregnancy.

The aim of the EaPre2 research project is to establish a validated prenatal diagnostic test on the market that can be used to determine the risk of pre-eclampsia in early pregnancy. Based on the test result the corresponding high-risk patients could receive preventive treatment in good time. This is to be achieved with the help of a saleable test kit including all required components that can be used with all common mass spectrometers.

In the exploratory phase a clinical and commercial network will be established, the exploitation of the test set on the market will be analysed and the freedom of action in patent law issues will be examined.