Emvena Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company co-founded by Rice University faculty member Kelsey Swingle announces its launch to develop a treatment for preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication associated with significant risks to maternal and fetal health. The company received an investment from the Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutics Seed Fund (“PxB Fund”), which together with the founders built the company to advance technology developed by Swingle and colleagues during her doctoral research at the University of Pennsylvania.
Preeclampsia is a serious pregnancy complication affecting 2-8% of pregnancies across the globe. Currently, patient care primarily focuses on monitoring the condition and managing the symptoms with delivery of the baby being one of the only available treatment options. Emvena is pursuing a different approach by targeting the underlying biological processes in the placenta that are involved in preeclampsia with the goal of developing a disease-modifying treatment rather than solely managing symptoms.
“Building a company around this technology gives us the opportunity to advance a promising scientific approach toward a potential treatment for pregnancy-related diseases, an area of significant unmet medical need,” said Young T. Kwon, co-founder, CEO and executive chair of Emvena. “By developing a targeted drug delivery approach focused on the placenta, we aim to translate this technology into a therapeutic strategy that could improve outcomes for mothers and their babies.”
The company’s technology uses specially formulated lipid nanoparticles, a drug delivery platform related to the technology used in mRNA medicines, to direct therapeutic payloads to the placenta. In preclinical mouse studies, the approach enabled delivery of messenger RNA encoding vascular endothelial growth factor to the placenta, helping reverse high blood pressure and improve measures of placental and fetal health. The company plans to advance this technology toward clinical development; additional research will be needed to establish its safety and efficacy in humans.
Swingle is an assistant professor of bioengineering and member of the Rice Biotech Launch Pad, a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of the university’s health and medical technology discoveries into cures. “Translating a scientific discovery from the lab into a clinically available therapy requires more than strong science. It also requires building the right team that understands how to advance innovation toward patients,” Swingle said. “My experience with the Rice Biotech Launch Pad has helped me develop the skills and perspective needed to explore entrepreneurship while continuing my academic career. I’m excited to see this work move toward its next stage.”
“Helping researchers build the entrepreneurial skills and connections needed to translate their discoveries is an important part of growing the biotechnology ecosystem,” said Omid Veiseh, professor of bioengineering at Rice and faculty director at Rice Biotech Launch Pad. “Kelsey’s journey illustrates how academic research can become the foundation for a new venture addressing an important unmet medical need.”
The remainder of the company’s initial team includes Michael Mitchell, co-founder and professor in bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania; Hannah Safford, co-founder and director of research and development at Emvena, Dr. Allison August, co-founder and senior clinical adviser at Emvena; and Anna Turetsky, member of the board of directors at Emvena and general partner, PxB Fund.
About Emvena Therapeutics:
Emvena Therapeutics Inc. is a biotechnology company developing placenta-targeted mRNA medicines for serious maternal and fetal disorders. Founded in 2026 based on research from the University of Pennsylvania, the company is advancing a novel lipid nanoparticle platform designed to preferentially deliver mRNA to the placenta. Emvena’s lead program targets preeclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication with significant unmet medical need. Based in Philadelphia, Emvena is backed by the Penn-BioNTech Innovative Therapeutic Seed Fund (PxB Fund). For more information, visit www.emvenatx.com.
About Rice:
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering and computing, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. Internationally, the university maintains the Rice Global Paris Center, a hub for innovative collaboration, research and inspired teaching located in the heart of Paris. With 4,776 undergraduates and 4,104 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction and No. 7 for best-run colleges by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by the Wall Street Journal and is included on Forbes' exclusive list of "New Ivies."
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About the Rice Biotech Launch Pad:
The Rice Biotech Launch Pad is a Houston-based accelerator focused on expediting the translation of Rice University’s health and medical technology discoveries into cures. This initiative is designed to help advance internally discovered platform technologies from concept to clinical studies and commercialization. The Rice Biotech Launch Pad will identify and support highly differentiated projects while driving the expansion of Houston as a world-class medical innovation ecosystem. The accelerator will bring together local researchers with a network of industry executives. For more information, please visit https://biotechlaunchpad.rice.edu/.
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