20-50% risk
The Challenge
Preterm birth rates
Pregnancy should reach nine months. Babies should be born at term and two days later discharged home. Yet 1 in 10 babies worldwide are born preterm (at 24 to 37 weeks of pregnancy), amounting to 9 - 17% of all pregnancies
Newborn mortality & morbidity
Preterm birth is the single major cause of death in children up to 5 years of age in the developed world and the leading cause of infant mortality and morbidity worldwide
Infants born preterm are over 40 times more likely to die during the neonatal period than are term infants
A significant proportion of preterm-born children experience short & long-term complications including respiratory impairment, feeding disorders, neurological disabilities, vision disorders, hearing impairment, developmental delay and cerebral palsy
60-70% of preterm births occur due to spontaneous onset of labor
Existing treatments such as medications, hormones (progesterone), surgical interventions (cerclage), and pessaries are unsatisfactory. Therefore the rate of preterm births has not changed in decades
Delaying PTB by one week reduces costs by >25% and improves neonatal outcome by >15%
Target Population
14-25M
pregnancies annually worldwide
Women with Previous Preterm Birth
Twin Pregnancies
40-60% risk
Cervical Insufficiency & Short Cervix
30-50% risk
w/o cerclage
Preterm Labor
30-50% risk
9-17% of all pregnancies
are at risk for spontaneous preterm birth
due to the aforementioned conditions
