Liz Cormier-May is a visionary in her field. Here we find out about how her ventures are changing the face of healthcare for women all over the world.
Mammogen is a female-led biotech company using a combination of data, technology, science and personal experience to challenge the status quo. Founder Liz Cormier-May is an outspoken leader in her field, and her mission is to shatter complacency and radically improve the way women’s diseases are detected, diagnosed and treated.
Early detection saves lives
According to the World Health Organization, 2.3 million women were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, with 685,000 deaths globally. Awareness is essential, and early detection can increase the chance of survival by as much as 99%. But treatment is only half the battle, so Liz and her team are championing a different approach which stops remission being viewed as a benchmark for success.
For women whose lives have been affected by female cancers, every new day comes with a fear that it may return. Liz aims to close the gap between science and support, starting a new conversation about the fears, anxiety, depression, marital challenges and body shame issues that come hand in hand with breast cancer – while forming a strong new community with the power to make a real difference.
Liz began her career as a medicinal chemist specialising in early discovery oncology at the Novartis institute for Biomedical Research. She left the lab because she felt too far away from the patient, and wanted to bring tangible, meaningful change to the healthcare journey. For almost 20 years, she has been developing new markets, products and companies, with one shared goal – to introduce novel options and technologies that enhance patient experiences and save lives.
Changing the healthcare landscape
Since Liz’s last successful exit, she’s been focusing on two new ecosystems, the first of which is a company called Dragonfly Data Ventures. Founded by Liz in 2019, the company is building an app that enables people to activate their own health, wellness and transactional data in gamified ways. It’s an incentivized user experience in which subscribers can help themselves and the world around them at the same time, profiting from their own data streams for the first time ever.
The second ecosystem is a joint venture between IV BioHoldings and Mammogen, Inc. Liz is the CCO of IVBH and CEO of Mammogen, and together the companies are changing the way the world thinks about health.
IV BioHoldings is a bio innovation studio that conceives, creates and develops first-in-category RNA bio platform companies which radically improve the detection, diagnosis and treatment of disease. This novel distributed company model is defined by its speed, efficiency and risk management. From R&D to company creation, productization and commercialisation, everything has been made possible by advanced data science, exponential technologies and powerful partnerships. To date, IV BioHoldings has created:
- 3 first in class patented and patent-pending liquid biopsy programs
- 8 clinical-stage diagnostics
- 223 novel RNA biomarkers which have discovered, validated and protected 220 million addressable lives in the US alone, and over 1 billion globally
Mammogen is a women’s health diagnostic company that’s created a new market in a completely innovative and new way, all with focus on empowering and serving its patient operations.
Mammogen’s technology is focused on developing and commercialising multi-gene expression signatures found in our RNA – a polymeric molecule that plays an essential role in the coding, decoding, regulation and expression of genes. These biomarkers are found in almost all biofluids including blood and saliva, and they provide important information about what’s happening inside the body. By understanding these signatures and looking out for changes is the RNA, it’s possible to detect complex diseases like cancer much sooner.
Mammogen’s novel multi-gene expression signature is non-invasive and painless, and it’s positioned to unlock regular, reliable screening for women who are currently underserved by medical practices. The technology has the potential to eliminate false negatives and get more women into early screening, whist also eliminating false positives and enabling the safe monitoring of suspicious nodules. The ultimate aim is that all women, regardless of age, background, financial status or genetics, will have access to safe, early detection – potentially saving millions of lives.
A new conversation
While the company’s genTRU breast products are in clinical development, Liz and her team are focusing on building a powerful community of survivors, fighters and supporting them and their families. The tools they’re equipping survivors with go way beyond clinical diagnostics to create a safe space for discussion, healing and long-term wellness.
The company is currently running two tests, addressing almost 100 million women who are currently being underserved by traditional guidelines. The aim is two-fold:
- to connect the right woman with the right intervention, at the right time, and
- To rule out women who don’t need unnecessary breast biopsies from these costly (both financially and mentally) and risky procedures.
Mammogen currently has a set of 26 mRNA biomarkers to detect breast cancers across all stages and types of the disease, making its genTRU breast program and associated products truly ground-breaking and first in their class.
Mammogen is partnering with other innovative women led organisations to equip women who have experienced breast cancer with the knowledge and tools they need to live empowered lives. One such partnership is with Brilliantly, and the offering includes a book project including short stories, interviews and other creative pieces that address everything from hereditary risks to sex and career changes.
The second part of the offering is an exercise program with a number of workouts aimed at helping women safely rebuild their strength and mobility following breast surgery and/or treatment. The purpose of this holistic approach is to take the conversation beyond traditional treatments and healthcare decisions to help women improve every aspect of their lives. Both initiatives will be officially launched in early 2022, subject to successful sponsorship. To find out more about Mammogen’s innovative, life saving technologies, visit https://www.mammogen.bio
