The company launched in November a survey-based test for screening patients for preterm birth risk that it plans to pair with a mass spectrometry-based assay.
The study aims to evaluate how pairing Sera's PreTRM test with clinical interventions may mitigate preterm birth risk, improve neonatal outcomes, and reduce healthcare costs.
While Sera's previous validation work focused on the 37 and 35 week time points, the 32 week mark is perhaps most crucial in terms of patient outcomes.
The company has identified progesterone metabolites linked to preterm birth and is looking to develop them for predicting risk of delivery prior to 32 weeks.
The company said it will use the proceeds to increase commercialization of its PreTRM test, a blood biomarker test to determine the risk of premature delivery.
The research team said that its diagnostic biomarkers may help clinicians differentiate a fatal disease for preterm infants from other confounding conditions.
Newly discovered biomarkers of preterm birth risk — D-lactic acid and TIMP-1 — may lead to a simple ELISA test at the point of care, its developers said.
The companies plan to explore opportunities to use Thermo Fisher's LC-MS instrumentation to develop tools to determine the risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes.
