On February 14, 2025, the kick-off meeting (KOM) of the VAGINEF project took place at the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) facilities. This innovative initiative aims to address an unmet medical need: an effective treatment for vaginal atrophy, which affects approximately half of menopausal women, causing vulvar/vaginal, sexual, and/or urinary discomfort, collectively known as Genitourinary Syndrome of Menopause (GSM).
Current treatments for vaginal atrophy are limited to vaginal moisturizers and lubricants, continuous sexual activity or vaginal exercises, and estrogen therapy. However, these approaches are often associated with relapses and low adherence rates. For this reason, VAGINEF aims to develop an effective and safe topical product incorporating growth factors and hyaluronic acid to provide a more sustainable solution.
Project Objectives
The main objective of VAGINEF is to create an innovative topical product that leverages a patented method for stabilizing growth factors, allowing these proteins to maintain their activity for longer. This will be combined with hyaluronic acid to effectively treat women suffering from vaginal atrophy. The project is structured into five work packages (WP):
- WP1: Coordination, transfer, intellectual property protection, and dissemination.
- WP2: Design, characterization, and development of pharmaceutical formulations that meet the necessary physicochemical, microbiological, and biopharmaceutical specifications.
- WP3 & WP4: In vitro and in vivo preclinical studies to ensure biocompatibility and compliance with European medical device regulations (Regulation 2017/745).
- WP5: A clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of the selected formulations in treating VA.
Consortium partners
The VAGINEF project is led by Inves BioFarm (coordinator), in collaboration with Leitat and the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR).
Stay tuned for updates on the progress of this pioneering initiative aimed at improving women’s health and quality of life.
This project is part of the PCPP 2023 program and is funded under reference CPP2023-010900, with the support of:
