Metri Bio: Working towards better health outcomes for endometriosis patients
21 Jul, 20263 minute read
Endometriosis, a debilitating, chronic condition affecting 10% women, continues to be misunderstood by doctors and healthcare professionals.
Despite being one of the most common gynecological diseases, roughly 200 million people worldwide continue to suffer exhausting, ongoing agony that doesn’t have a cure. Just the path to diagnosis takes almost nine years on average and requires a laparoscopy (a surgical procedure where a camera examines the insides of the abdomen).
Another hurdle – because lab rats don’t menstruate it is harder to create and test new drugs for conditions affected by the menstrual cycle.
This last point is one of the reasons behind the formation of biotech Metri Bio. Co-founded by Ashley Abel, PhD, and Berna Sozen, PhD, the company is determined to improve health outcomes for those living with endometrial diseases by creating a human model for testing and developing novel treatments.
Below we’ve outlined what’s driving their mission and the model they’ve created to better understand female biology. Currently in the early stages, this femtech company is worth keeping an eye on.
Metri Bio and their mission
Metri Bio is a Boston-based biotech and femtech company pioneering first-in-class treatments for endometriosis and other uterine diseases.
They are driven by a current lack of treatment options for endometriosis as well as its brutal impact on women that extends beyond chronic pain; fertility issues and immune, cardiovascular and metabolic complications also have debilitating effects.
As highlighted on their website, the endometrium is a uniquely complex human tissue that lacks a suitable model system. Because lab rodents don’t naturally menstruate, it is much harder to test and develop new therapies.
To overcome this hurdle, Metri Bio is recreating human tissues in the lab that can be used for the development of new drugs instead. One of their co-founders, Ashley Abel, mentions in an interview how this concept was sparked during her PhD at Yale:
“I talked about endometriosis with other members of the lab, and we went down a rabbit hole of how endometriosis was currently modeled – mostly in mice that don’t menstruate – so it seemed like it might be another one of those conditions where it would be advantageous to create a human model to better understand the biology through that lens.”
Abel was also selected for the 2026 Forbes 30 under 30 list in healthcare, an honorary recognition that highlights her brilliance as a researcher and her pioneering innovations in Women’s Health.
Ashley Abel, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Metri BioWorking towards better treatments
The team at Metri Bio are determined to improve the current standard of endometriosis treatments, which involves either hormone suppression or repeated surgeries. As mentioned in a recent interview, co-founder Abel said she was motivated to develop new therapies for endometriosis after meeting with a woman who’d had 22 surgeries.
Because rodent testing isn’t an option, the company has developed a human model that successfully models diseases of the endometrium. Their 3D endometrial technology provides access to biological mechanisms that previously could not be studied – according to the company.
This is a huge step forward for the discovery and development stage and will allow the team to identify the drivers of endometriosis at a molecular level. This in turn will guide better creation of therapeutic candidates.
Following a $5 million pre-seed funding round, the company plans to accelerate both the development of their platform and novel therapies for endometriosis. And further down the line, they plan to study other uterine diseases that face similar challenges.
Creating hope for the future
As the company expands its team and facilities, we look forward to seeing them move towards preclinical studies and future trials in the coming years.
Their work has the potential to ease the suffering of hundreds of millions of women, as well as better understand a disease that has historically been misunderstood and undertreated.
If you’re working in the biotech or femtech sector and looking to expand a team or find a new job opportunity, feel free to drop us a quick message and one of our recruiters will be in touch.
