Contraception is a complicated topic. There is much to debate about its effectiveness as well as its effect on women’s bodies. For some time, the medical community assumes that if the “pill” was not effective the woman was at fault for not following the proper protocol. It turns out, there’s much more to it.
On further review and deep analysis of big data, some women carry an enzyme which reduces the effectiveness of the pill to suppress hormone function and therefore ovulation. According to Celmatix CEO Piraye Beim, targeting hormones to manage the reproduction system is equivalent to using a hammer for precision work.
Celmatix aims to change the face of women’s health through the development of digital tools and genetic insights focused on fertility potential. Its unique approach combines data science and genomics to bring personalized medicine to fertility.
Celmatix CEO Piraye Beim has spent 10 years building a private version for women’s health. The Company’s datasets now exceed 850 terabytes of data representing a mix of proprietary genetics studies of 7,000 women, fertility treatment outcomes for 500,000 patients, and data from public studies. “We’ve got the playbook from oncology; we know how to decode these different genetic responses and then build DNA tests to help people make informed decisions,” says Beim. “But it’s still really, really early days.”
Piraye has a deep scientific background. She earned a PhD in molecular biology at Cornell University after which she was a post-doctoral research associate at University of Cambridge. Piraye is a Healthcare Innovators Fellow of The Aspen Institute.
Recently, Celmatix teamed up with a Swiss maker of fertility drugs, Ferring Pharmaceuticals. The hope is to better identify the risks related to IVF treatment based on a woman’s genetic makeup. In addition, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Company is aiming to identify next-generation contraceptives with a longer term goal to create solutions that aren’t just reformulations of the same old hormones.
