NxGEN and NX Prenatal collaborate to develop blood test for identifying women at risk of preterm birth

In a collaborative move to expand their women's health screening and testing portfolios, NxGEN MDx, LLC., and NX Prenatal Inc., announced a joint partnership to collaborate on the development and deployment of a blood test to assess pregnancy biomarkers of preterm birth risk.

The partnership brings together NX Prenatal's experience in developing exosome-associated biomarkers from maternal blood with NxGEN MDx's comprehensive genetic screening solutions for women's health applications.

Preterm birth affects up to 1 in 8 U.S. pregnancies leading to nearly half a million preterm births each year, costing families and insurers an estimated $26 billion. Globally, there are approximately 15 million preterm births annually, accounting for 75% of perinatal deaths. Preterm births are also a major cause of short and long-term medical complications in infants and children.

"We are excited to partner with the innovative NX Prenatal team. Our combined efforts are designed to identify which pregnant women are at risk for delivering prematurely as early as possible. NX Prenatal's proven technology uniquely holds the potential to achieve this breakthrough," says Alan Mack, CEO of NxGEN MDx.

Brian Brohman, Co-CEO of Nx Prenatal, concurs. "Our proprietary NeXosome Platform has the potential to identify women at risk for preterm birth as early as 10 weeks gestation — dramatically improving upon the 20+ week usefulness of current tests."

"Clearly, our partnership aligns with our respective corporate missions. NX Prenatal's new generation of diagnostics complements our current suite of tests that can help families and their physicians plan for healthy pregnancy outcomes," adds Mack.

Identifying risk for preterm births earlier has a powerful ripple effect as well. "In addition to helping clinicians proactively manage those at greatest risk, patients and families will benefit from personalized care and potential tailored interventions, while payers and self-insured employers may ultimately experience lower claims costs related to preterm birth," notes Gail Page, Executive Chair of NX Prenatal.