New SmiLe company develops first effective treatment for hypothyroidism

SmiLe Incubator

Prolevi Bio’s unique technology is intended to help those 10-20 percent who don’t respond to today’s medicine for underactive thyroid glands. The company develops a modified release thyroid hormone tablet formulation, mimicking the natural hormone release cycles. In addition, the treatment will be tailored according to each patient’s needs using Prolevi Bio’s mathematical models.

Globally, 750 million patients, mainly women, suffer from hypothyroidism, i.e. an underactive thyroid. However, as many as 600M patients treated with current medication are dissatisfied with the treatment, and 150M patients do not respond to the drugs at all. Current treatments are unable to follow healthy thyroid gland release cycles.

Prolevi Bio develops a platform technology that releases the hormone according to the body’s circadian rhythm. In addition, the drug will act as a precision medicine – each patient will receive an individually adapted treatment for optimal effect – with the help of the company’s mathematical models that account for patient’s physiological and physical parameters. The technology can also be used for other applications.

The company has opened a financing seed round and aims to raise another 5-6 million euros (Series A Tr.1), to finance a phase 1 study validating the company’s innovation with fast-track market authorization in selected EU countries under accelerated regulatory approval pathway.

“Going forward, we will develop increasingly sophisticated mathematical models to get even better treatment at the individual level and further strengthen our IP portfolio. We are happy that, as an incubator company, we receive support and help from experienced SmiLe coaches when it comes to capital acquisition and critical operational decisions”, says Sahil Gupta, CEO of Prolevi Bio.

“We are thrilled to support the commercialization of Prolevi Bio’s medicines, developed for an area with high unmet needs. In addition to receiving our broad business development support, our new startups join a community of previous and current portfolio companies. Here is a vast collective experience, which contributes to accelerating the companies´ development”, says Ebba Fåhraeus, CEO at SmiLe.