At the Lagune University Hospital for Mother and Child in Cotonou, 60 women having a cesarean were randomized to carbetocin or oxytocin to prevent postpartum hemorrhage. At 5 minutes, uterine tone was satisfactory in 93.3% on carbetocin versus 40.0% on oxytocin, and extra uterotonic drugs were needed in 20.0% versus 56.7%. Low blood pressure and nausea or vomiting were more common with oxytocin; the authors call for cost-effectiveness studies.
ProFound Therapeutics (Flagship Pioneering company, Cambridge, Massachusetts) announced Thursday August 27, 2026 an investment commitment of up to $35 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for preeclampsia and eclampsia drug target and biomarker discovery. Structure: $20 million upfront plus $15 million tied to experimental milestones. ProFound will apply its ProFoundry platform (a proteomics-scale discovery engine that identifies previously undetected proteins from tissue and serum) and its agentic AI tooling to placental tissue and serum samples from women with the conditions in search of first-in-class protein drug targets and biomarkers. Preeclampsia affects roughly 5-8% of pregnancies globally and remains a leading cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality; there are currently no approved disease-modifying drugs. The Gates commitment continues the foundation's pattern of directing capital toward maternal health gaps that private capital has under-served.