Gameto

Go Gameto Go! 🐣 Strong concluding line in Bloomberg today: "The company has the potential to drive the biggest transformation in women’s health since the birth control pill" Excerpts: "Gameto Inc., a biotech company working on stem-cell therapies for women’s health, has raised $44 million in venture capital to help fund a clinical trial for its product that aims to improve the egg-freezing experience. The technique, which uses stem cells that have been engineered into ovarian support cells, is intended to free patients from the grueling two weeks of injections that prompt ovaries to make enough eggs during fertility treatment. In a Phase 3 trial, patients are only given three days of injections, after which their eggs are extracted and matured by the engineered cells. “The patient journey hasn’t really changed for 50 years,” Gameto co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Dina Radenkovic Turner said in an interview. In vitro fertilization patients often have to go through multiple rounds of egg freezing, during which the twice-daily injections can lead to intense hormonal side-effects such as nausea, headaches, mood swings and fatigue. Still, “modern medicine has always had a tendency to undermine — and not for bad reasons — non-life-threatening side effects,” said Radenkovic Turner, who is also a doctor. Five babies have already been born in Mexico and Peru using eggs that went through the Fertilo process. Gameto’s solution evolves an already accepted medical technique, known as in-vitro maturation, that is sometimes used for people who don’t respond well to IVF or can’t take the drugs. IVM is not as common because it isn’t as likely to grow eggs that can produce a baby. But the company says early data shows that adding engineered cells into the mix, as Gameto does, makes the procedure much more effective. Radenkovic Turner said she sees Fertilo as a way to give every woman the equivalent of a “young ovary” to grow their eggs in, and might counter the natural tendency of a woman’s body to make just one mature egg per cycle. “Even if you’re taking the most conservative scenario, you’re still talking about a multibillion-dollar revenue opportunity” over time, she said. While the US trial is ongoing until late 2026, the treatment is already available to patients in Mexico, Peru and Australia, and has been cleared by regulators in nine more countries, the company said. Gameto is working on other applications for the engineered support cells, which it says may also be helpful in treating symptoms of menopause and maintaining ovarian health. It has another program, called Ameno, to address that market. Kristina Simmons, who led Gameto’s latest funding round at Overwater Ventures, expects the company to dramatically open up opportunities for women who want to freeze their eggs, or live longer without the effects of menopause. As human fertility is further damaged by man-made chemicals and pesticides, Simmons said, the need for therapies like Gameto’s will increase. The company has the “potential to drive the biggest transformation in women’s health since the birth control pill,” she said." From Bloomberg today: bloomberg.com/news/articles/… FD: Future Ventures led Gameto's Series A