SAN FRANCISCO — (BUSINESS WIRE) — Endometrics, a molecular diagnostics company developing a clinical intelligence platform for women’s health using menstrual blood, has been named the first-place winner of the NIH RADx® Tech ACT ENDO Challenge, a national innovation competition designed to accelerate the development of new diagnostic technologies for endometriosis.

The RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge, led by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), aims to accelerate the development of innovative non-invasive technologies to improve diagnosis of endometriosis.

Endometrics received the top prize in the final phase of the multi-stage RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge, recognizing the company’s outstanding progress in development of a novel diagnostic approach that analyzes proprietary biomarkers in menstrual blood.

During the year-long RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge program, Endometrics worked closely with experts from the NIH innovation ecosystem, gaining access to leading specialists in diagnostics development, regulatory strategy, manufacturing, and commercialization.

According to assigned team lead Pete Celano, Endometrics distinguished itself both scientifically and operationally during the year-long RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge.

“Endometriosis remains one of the most challenging diseases to diagnose in women’s health, and new approaches are urgently needed. Endometrics stood out for its innovative use of menstrual blood to detect molecular signals associated with the disease. Just as impressive was the strength of the team behind the science — their rigor, clarity of vision, and determination were evident throughout the RADx Tech ACT ENDO program. It’s a truly exceptional team tackling an important clinical challenge. ” — Pete Celano, Assigned Team Lead, RADx Tech ACT ENDO Challenge.

“Completing the RADx ACT ENDO program and being named a 1st Prize winner is a tremendous honor for our team at Endometrics,” said Dr. Yana Aznavour, founder and CEO at Endometrics. “During the past year, we worked alongside an exceptional team of experts dedicated to advancing endometriosis diagnosis. This recognition affirms the strength of the science behind our menstrual blood–based diagnostic platform and reinforces our belief that a new approach to diagnosing this disease is both possible and urgently needed.”

Endometrics’ first clinical focus is endometriosis, a chronic disease affecting more than 10% of women worldwide. Endometriosis is a complex disease, and symptoms include severe pain during menstruation; chronic pelvic pain; pain during sexual intercourse; and infertility. Despite its prevalence, diagnosis often takes eight to ten years, and the current standard of care remains laparoscopic surgery under general anesthesia.

Aznavour continued: “Before becoming a founder, I worked as a gynecologic surgeon and operated on countless patients with endometriosis. I saw firsthand how this disease affects women’s bodies and their lives. Those experiences shaped our mission at Endometrics – to ensure women get clear answers much earlier, finally receive the clarity, support, and care they have always deserved. Receiving this recognition during Endometriosis Awareness Month makes this moment especially meaningful for our team and for the patients we are working to serve.”

In parallel with this recognition, Endometrics was recently named the winner of the Most Promising Company Competition at the Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC), further highlighting growing momentum behind new molecular approaches to women’s health diagnostics.

About Endometrics

Endometrics is a molecular diagnostics company developing non-invasive tests for women’s health using menstrual blood as an organ-proximal liquid biopsy. The company integrates rigorous tissue-derived biomarker discovery, proprietary bioinformatics, and scalable at-home sampling to enable molecular diagnostics for gynecologic diseases.

Endometrics emerged from the UC Berkeley SkyDeck accelerator and has received national recognition for its work in women’s health diagnostics, including First Prize in the NIH RADx® Tech ACT ENDO Challenge and the Best Research Award from the American Association of Gynecologic Laparoscopists (AAGL).

About the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)

NICHD leads research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. For more information, visit https://www.nichd.nih.gov.

About the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB)

NIBIB’s mission is to improve health by leading the development and accelerating the application of biomedical technologies. The Institute is committed to integrating engineering and physical science with biology and medicine to advance our understanding of disease and its prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment. NIBIB supports emerging technology research and development within its internal laboratories and through grants, collaborations, and training. More information is available at the NIBIB website.

Source: https://businesswire.com