Mace sat down with Professor Asif Ahmed, Executive Chairman and Founder of MirZyme, a UK-based biopharmaceutical biotech company that focuses on the development and commercialisation of tailored therapeutics to prevent pre-eclampsia, to learn more about how he is leading the femtech revolution. Mace: What is pre-eclampsia, how does it occur and whom does it affect? AA: Let me start with a personal story. A bereaved mother and retired biochemist Dr Carolyn Fahm recalls losing her child to pre-eclampsia decades ago as if it was yesterday. She told me: “I’ve been obsessed with pre-eclampsia ever since I lost my child,” she said. “At the time, I was far too ill to leave the hospital and attend to my son's funeral arrangements. Things like that leave emotional scars. They change us physically, too: The hypertension has left visibly distended cranial blood vessels that I have seen on one of my CT scans done as part of an epilepsy neurology workup. Like Covid-19, pre-eclampsia occurs without any forewarning, despite being a life changing and potentially deadly illness. So antenatal education is of such great importance. But having the means to test for pre-eclampsia and then to have a therapeutic means to reverse the biochemical pathway that leads to the clinical syndrome means everything to me.” Pre-eclampsia is defined by high blood pressure developing halfway through pregnancy and can be life-threatening for moms and babies. Not everyone experiences the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, so it’s important to get regular check-ups. There is a significant cost associated with the increased testing and monitoring of pregnant women at risk of developing pre-eclampsia, but the cost of not doing anything is a lot higher. What are the risk factors contributing to the development of pre-eclampsia? There are many risk factors that predispose one to pre-eclampsia. These include chronic high blood pressure, kidney disease, obesity, belonging to certain ethnic groups, as well as family history. Women older than 35 years are at 4.5 times higher risk than 25 years old. African Americans are also more likely to develop pre-eclampsia compared to their white counterparts. According to the World Health Organization, among women who have had pre-eclampsia, about 20% to 40% of their daughters and 11% to 37% of their sisters also will get the disorder. Women who had pre-eclampsia in a previous pregnancy are seven times more likely to develop pre-eclampsia in a later pregnancy. Women with gestational diabetes, migraines and rheumatoid arthritis are also at higher risk. Delivery typically resolves the symptoms of pre-eclampsia, but that often means inducing labour with all the risks to the child usually associated with preterm birth.  Moreover, mothers who have had pre-eclampsia should be aware of an increased probability of future cardiovascular issues. They can also develop a postpartum pre-eclampsia, a rare but serious condition that may develop up to six weeks after giving birth.   There are no accurate diagnostics to predict pre-eclampsia and no approved pharmacological agents available to treat or prevent it. There's clearly an unmet medical need. What are the health and developmental consequences as a result of pre-eclampsia for surviving children? Each year, pre-eclampsia is responsible for over half a million baby deaths worldwide. It also accounts for two in five premature births delivered before the 35th week of gestation and 12% to 25% of fetal growth restricted (undersized) babies. The complications associated with prematurity are substantial and include neonatal deaths and serious long-term neonatal morbidity. Offspring born to a pre-eclamptic mother has an increased risk of developing endocrine, metabolic, and nutritional disorders as well as diseases of the blood and blood forming organs with longer hospitalisation compared to offspring born to mothers without pre-eclampsia.  Pre-eclampsia can predispose offspring born to pre-eclamptic mothers to cardiovascular complications later in life, as they seem to have a more adverse cardiovascular risk profile in young adulthood than offspring of normotensive pregnancies. In addition, offspring of pre-eclampsia pregnancies appear to be at higher risk for cognitive impairment (learning difficulties), altering cerebral vascular and neuroanatomy during development (compromised brain development) compared to offspring from uncomplicated pregnancies. How does surviving pre-eclampsia affect mothers? Pre-eclampsia has a detrimental effect on pregnant women and their families. Women with a history of pre-eclampsia are disproportionately affected by mental health disorders. One in five women with pre-eclampsia or eclampsia experience postpartum depression and the magnitude increases with the severity of the disease condition. Pre-eclampsia also increases the chance of childhood mental disorders in offspring.  There is also a huge cost to our society; The direct worldwide cost burden of pre-ec...