Gates Foundation grants ProFound $35M for preeclampsia research

What's the deal? ProFound Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech, has secured a grant of up to $35 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → to research preeclampsia and eclampsia. An initial $20 million will fund the company's ProFoundry platform, which searches for new drug targets and biomarkers.

What's the endgame? ProFound wants to mine the human proteome — the full set of proteins expressed by our genes — for treatments tailored to women's health. The platform combines protein detection methods with AI analysis to identify novel proteins in the placenta and serum of affected women.

Why now? Preeclampsia and eclampsia can cause severe complications for mother and child, yet remain underdiagnosed and undertreated. The company plans to build an AI tool to discover and validate new biomarkers, aiming to improve diagnostics and treatment.

"Preeclampsia and eclampsia are devastating conditions for mothers and their families worldwide, yet very little is known about the biology driving these diseases," said chief executive officer John Lepore. "Therapeutic options remain limited, and the expanded proteome offers an untapped resource that could lead to groundbreaking therapies."

The signal: At $35 million, this ranks among the largest grants in US health, sitting in the 98th percentile across nearly 6,200 comparable grant rounds. That scale points to growing philanthropic appetite for women's health, a field long starved of research funding.

Read more: third-news.com

Image credit: Profound Therapeutics