MUVON

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a highly prevalent and underdiagnosed disorder that affects over 200 million people worldwide. It has a severe impact on physical and psychological health, and imposes a high financial burden on affected individuals, healthcare systems, and society.

Women are affected twice as often as men, with an estimated 40% of women above the age of 40 suffering from SUI. Existing treatment options have drawbacks that range from low and short-term efficacy, in the case of conservative treatments, to potentially serious adverse events associated either with invasiveness or the introduction of foreign material, in the case of more potent surgical approaches.

MUVON is developing a low-risk, minimally invasive treatment that uses the patient’s own muscle precursor cells (MPC) to regenerate the damaged sphincter muscle, thus potentially providing a cure for SUI.

Before MUVON was founded, the team worked in the associate project MUS.I.C. to establish and validate its GMP-compliant production process at Wyss Zurich. This project was then moved to a clinical setting at the beginning of 2020, and a Phase I clinical trial was conducted. The MUVON team will now proceed with the clinical and commercial development of its therapy, evaluating the efficacy of the approach during a Phase II clinical trial and completing all activities required for regulatory approval.