Wellcome Leap - The Missed Vital Sign Program

Wellcome Leap - The Missed Vital Sign Program Overview

Program Budget: $50 million (total program)

Geographic Scope: Global

Focus Areas:

• Women's health
• Heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) research and treatment
• Healthcare innovation
• Biomarker identification
• Non-hormonal therapeutics
• Human disease modeling
• Multi-omics analysis
• AI-driven computational approaches

Program Description:
Wellcome Leap's $50 million "The Missed Vital Sign" program seeks to transform how menstruation is understood and treated in healthcare. The program aims to address the heavy menstrual bleeding crisis affecting one in three women of reproductive age.

Project Awarded to Wyss Institute:
The Wyss Institute received funding to develop the first human Organ Chip model for heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB).

Project Goals:

• Create uterus chips lined with human endometrial cells, stroma, and microvasculature
• Replicate both healthy menstrual physiology and HMB
• Identify causal factors and early biomarkers of HMB progression
• Identify potential non-hormonal therapeutics
• Reduce diagnosis and treatment time from 5 years to 5 months

Key Statistics (HMB Impact):

• Affects one in three women of reproductive age
• Every minute in the U.S., a woman requires a blood transfusion due to menstruation
• Up to 50% of reproductive-aged women globally are iron deficient
• Women with HMB miss average of 3.6 working weeks annually
• Costs U.S. economy more than $94 billion annually
• Women with HMB experience anxiety and depression rates 3x higher than general female population

Wyss Institute Expertise:

• 5+ years of breakthroughs in women's health research
• Existing Organ Chip models: vagina, cervix, fallopian tube, intestine, lung
• NeMoCAD AI tool for drug identification and repurposing
• Multi-omics analysis capabilities

Related Wyss Initiative:
Women's Health Catalyst at the Wyss - founded to support research and innovation addressing critical gaps in therapeutics, diagnostics, and medical devices for women's healthcare