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NCI roundtable spotlights women‑led startups tackling cervical, breast and ovarian cancer; founders stress SBIR, mentorship
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Summary
A National Cancer Institute SBIR podcast episode convened women founders developing cancer diagnostics and therapies who credited SBIR/ACS funding, mentors and strategic partnerships for early progress and described fundraising, regulatory and access hurdles.
A National Cancer Institute SBIR podcast episode convened a roundtable of women founders developing diagnostics, devices and therapeutics aimed at cervical, breast and ovarian cancers and highlighted the role of NCI and American Cancer Society funding programs in early-stage progress.
The panel, moderated during an "Empowering Innovation in Women's Health" conversation by Kimryn Rathmell (identified in the episode as an NCI director), featured Bridal Connors (director of investor relations, NCI SBIR) and founders Eve McDavid (CEO, Mission Driven Tech), Anupar Bajir (cofounder & CEO, Ananya Health), Marielisa Pineda (cofounder & CEO, Omnisagenix), Dawn Matoon (CEO, Mercy Bioanalytics), Shadi Saberi (founder/CEO of a portable breast ultrasound company) and Kristen Sherman (CEO, Covina Therapeutics).
"The five‑year survival rate outcomes have been stagnant for 50 years," said Eve McDavid, describing Mission Driven Tech's effort to redesign brachytherapy equipment she said was created in the 1970s and does not fit female anatomy. McDavid said that "up to 40 percent of women" drop out of internal radiation procedures because pain and poor fit lead to treatment interruption, a problem she and her cofounder aim to address with a female‑fitted device.
Panelists described disparate technologies: Ananya Health's point‑of‑care freezing tool for abnormal cervical lesions aimed at nurse‑led treatment; Omnisagenix's RNA‑sequencing and AI platform spun out of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory for novel therapeutic targets; Mercy Bioanalytics' blood‑based ovarian cancer screening test; an AI‑driven portable automated breast ultrasound that the panel said scans in about two minutes without a sonographer; and Covina Therapeutics' work on therapeutics for HPV infections and related cancers.
Speakers repeatedly credited non‑dilutive funding and mentorship. "If it wasn't for SBIR, I think I wouldn't be able to be here," Marielisa Pineda said, describing SBIR awards as the grant that funded her first employee. Several founders named the American Cancer Society BrightEdge program and NCI SBIR grants as important sources of validation and mentorship that helped with investor introductions.
Founders also described practical roadblocks: geography and access to venture capital in noncoastal regions; COVID‑era supply‑chain delays that slowed biocompatibility testing (one founder cited delays at a laboratory named NAMSA); regulatory timing and guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on device biocompatibility; and the time‑intensive nature of commercialization planning. Dawn Matoon said Mercy Bioanalytics recently received FDA breakthrough device designation and closed a $41 million Series A round.
On fundraising tactics, panelists outlined a mix of friends‑and‑family and angel rounds, accelerator participation, and repeated use of SBIR/STTR funding and commercialization planning. Practical advice included using free SBA and NIH/NCI resources and building commercialization plans for Phase 2 SBIR applications. Several founders urged founders to seek critical reviewers and mentors who will "poke holes" in the science and business model to strengthen their cases.
The discussion also covered hiring and team design: founders recommended a "bits‑and‑pieces" approach to access experienced fractional executives while conserving cash, recruiting university students for early roles, and ensuring early hires share mission alignment.
The episode closed with actionable takeaways: lean into mentoring networks, prioritize customer discovery, persevere through regulatory and funding timelines and use SBIR/ACS programs to de‑risk early science. Hosts directed listeners to sbir.cancer.gov for funding and commercialization resources.
This coverage is based on the NCI Innovation Lab podcast roundtable as recorded in the provided transcript. The panelists' technical claims and numerical figures (for example, survival rates, sensitivity percentages and fundraising totals) are reported as stated on the record by those speakers.
