Issue 37: $1 trillion says McKinsey | The Honey Pot gets acquired | FDA clearance for maternal heart monitor and bone booster
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech
Hello and welcome to issue #37 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 22 January 2024).
January continues to be full of show-stopping news about women’s health and FemTech. In the last week we’ve seen that McKinsey report, a $380m acquisition of a period care brand, and renewed commitment for women’s health from the UK Government. Let’s keep it coming.
🌟 In your newsletter today we’ve got:
🌎 The $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies
🏆 The Honey Pot Company gets majority acquired
🏠 Teal Health starts clinical trials for at-home cervical cancer screening
📌 Two FemTech start-ups get FDA Clearance
➡️ And lots, lots more!
Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Do you have feedback about the newsletter? I’d love to hear from you, drop me an email: anna@futurefemhealth.com
🌎 A global boost: McKinsey’s $1 trillion opportunity report
It’s the report everyone is talking about.
Last week, the World Economic Forum and McKinsey Health Institute teamed up to publish: 'Closing the women's health gap: A $1 trillion opportunity to improve lives and economies.’
If you’d like a 3 minute overview, I’ve broken down all the compelling, shocking (but not surprising) stats in my article here.
But the key finding? Investing in women’s health will help millions of women live healthier, longer lives AND could boost the global economy by at least $1 trillion a year by 2040.
It’s what you might call a no-brainer.
Within the report, there’s also a five-point framework for what needs to be done. It boils down to: Research, data, care delivery, investment, business policies.
All in all, this is a call to action for policy makers, investors, academia, employers and more:
“The question is not whether this wealth of opportunities exists, but rather who will take the initiative to seize it and drive change.”
And I loved this pointed comment too:
“Given the large unmet need and resulting opportunity, those who continue to forgo investing in women’s health may find themselves left behind by the players that tap into this high-potential market.”
You, as a reader of this newsletter, are of course already on board with all of this. But maybe 2024 really is now the time that the world will start to catch up?
(Read more: FutureFemHealth)
📌 And another McKinsey publication features women’s health
Elsewhere, McKinsey’s study on the future of wellness launched last week too. Its survey of 5,000 consumers around the world informs the trends now shaping the $1.8 trillion global consumer wellness market.
Women’s health makes it to the top spot on a list of seven areas of growth in the wellness space - with a specific call out for menopause as a particularly overlooked segment of the market.
And five key trends are identified in wellness overall: the rise of health at home, wearables (including smartrings), personalised wellness using AI, clinically proven ingredients over clean ones, and the value of the doctor recommendation for a purchase.
(Source: McKinsey)
🩸New women’s health priorities for England
The UK Government has set out its top priorities for women’s health in 2024.
Menstruation problems, menopause, maternity care and birth trauma support are to be tackled as part of year two of the Women’s Health Strategy.
Health and Social Care Secretary Victoria Atkins, who unveiled the priorities, said:
“We’ve made huge progress - enabling almost half a million women access to cheaper HRT, supporting women through the agony of pregnancy loss and opening new women’s health hubs - but I absolutely recognise there is more to do.
“We’re ensuring these changes benefit all women, regardless of socioeconomic background or ethnicity, because our Women’s Health Strategy is only a success if it works for all women.”
While many have welcomed the renewed focus - others have pointed out that potholes have actually received a lot more funding than the £25m put into women’s health hubs and HRT shortages still mean many can’t access the prescriptions they need.
(Source: Gov.UK)
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 USA: $380m acquisition for period and intimate care brand The Honey Pot company. Compass Diversified now has a majority stake in The Honey Pot in a deal set to be worth an incredible $380m. Founder Beatrice Dixon will continue to lead the business, which she launched in 2014, and says she has hopes it can become ‘the largest personal care brand in the world.’ Honey Pot products are currently sold in 33,000 stores across the US. (Source: Inc)
📌 USA: $14m for Granata Bio to expand fertility medication options. Biopharma company Granata Bio wants to introduce more varied and cheaper therapeutic options for fertility patients in what it calls a ‘stagnant’ US marketplace. Founded in 2018, they’ve got a portfolio of four medications so far - some now commercialised, some still early-stage. This Series A funding was led by Google Ventures (GV) (Source: PR Newswire)
📌 FRANCE: €800k for Omena menopause tech. France is a significant menopause market with 500,000 women entering menopause each year. Yet just 6% of FemTechs in the country address menopause. Omena provides a free app with a premium version at €60 a year - so far 10% of Omena’s 55k users have taken up that offer. In the future Omena hopes to expand across the continent as co-founder Mathilde Nême says when it comes to menopause ‘so far there’s been no innovation in continental Europe.’ This seed round was secured by business angels and family offices. (Source: Sifted)
📌 UAE: Dubai-based Diva’Me raises $1million in pre-seed funding. Diva'Me is a period pant and menstrual product brand which will now expand with an AI-powered app. The app will match users with the most suitable counsellors or gynaecologists based on their needs. The funding round was led by Verde. (Source: FutureFemHealth)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 USA: Teal Health starts clinical trial for at-home cervical cancer screening. 1 in 4 women in the US are not up-to-date with cervical screening. But what if they could screen comfortably at home? Joining with 15 leading health organisations, Teal Health’s clinical trial will support FDA submission and approval of a novel at-home self-collect device - the Teal Wand. (Source: FutureFemHealth)
📌 USA: Bloomlife secures FDA clearance for maternal device. Globally, a woman dies every two minutes due to pregnancy or childbirth complications. The Bloomlife MFM-Pro is a prescription wearable to help measure maternal and fetal heart rate in the patient’s home as well as in a clinic. This means low cost, patient-centred care, while still being evidence-based and high-quality. (Source: Medical device network)
📌 USA: Osteoboost secures FDA clearance for its low bone density vibration belt. Half of all women suffer from fractures during their lifetime. These mostly occur if women have low bone density (osteopenia) - a precursor to osteoporosis. The Osteoboost, created by Bone Health Technologies, is now the first non-drug, prescription medical device cleared to treat low bone density. (Source: Biospace)
📌 UK: Patent win for Matrix Health and Care. ‘The future of the speculum is no speculum at all.’ That’s the bold goal for founder Stiliyana Minkovska. Now the Matrix replacement device - a small wireless camera you can insert yourself - has secured a patent, a year after being filed. (Source: Stiliyana Minkovska on LinkedIn).
📌 USA: Pandia Health expands from birth control to menopause care. The US has a lack of certified providers for menopause symptom support - sometimes leading to average three-month long waiting times for treatment. Now, birth control company Pandia health will use its existing virtual services and pharmacy set up to offer consultations and personalised treatment plans for menopause - as well as medications delivered to the door. (Source: PR Newswire)
📌 USA: New generation of female entrepreneurs tackles women’s heart health. Women are twice as likely to die of heart attacks as men. And heart-related conditions kill more women in the US every year than cancer. Hello Heart, Bloomer Tech and Cordex Systems are featured in this overview of the FemTech startups tackling the issue. (Source: Washington Post)
📌 Last call - share your experience of censorship of women’s health content online. The survey from Center for Intimacy Justice has been extended and closes on 28 January. Complete the survey here.
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 USA: ProgenyHealth releases 2024 maternal and infant health report. ‘A troubling reality, a hopeful future’ is the title of ProgenyHealth’s annual report into the critical areas for pregnancy and infant health. Noted trends include a promising shift in research, the use of AI for better care, and the rise of virtual prenatal and postpartum healthcare. (Source: PR Newswire)
📌 India: The HPV Vaccination drive and beyond. Many countries are looking to reduce or even eradicate cervical cancer. In India this is no different since the majority of the 123,907 cases annually are diagnosed at a late stage - often leading to death. FemTech India takes a deep-dive into what’s being done. (Source: FemTech India)
📌 Canada: FemTech Canada launches. This new network will help FemTech companies to grow through strategic networking, training and business advisory support. As the first of its kind in Canada, it’s already built an ecosystem of 120 Canadian women’s health startups and scale-ups. FemTech Canada is operated by business accelerator Innovation Factory and was created by Hyivy Health founder Rachel Bartholomew. (Source: FemTech Canada)
📌 UK: ‘But where’s our little blue pill?’. Why hasn’t the supposed ‘menopause gold rush’ yielded a miracle drug for women? Why is so little being done for sexual health solutions for women over 50? - especially when they often have significant spending power. The short answer is money and misogyny. A great long read onxx (Source: Cosmopolitan)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 US: President expands abortion, contraception protections. A year on from Roe v Wade, The White House has announced new steps to ensure access to contraception, abortion medication and emergency abortions(Source: Washington Post)
📌 AUSTRALIA: Inquiry into women’s pain as Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan says there is a ‘gendered pain gap.’ This Australian-first inquiry will look at systemic issues women face when seeking care and support for pain. Recommendations will be made by the end of 2024 (Source: The Guardian)
✅ Jobs
📌 People Operations Specialist / Partner, Flo Health (UK)
📌 Research Lead, Elvie (UK)
📌 Senior Full Stack Engineer, Peppy (UK)
📌 Senior Corporate Partnerships Officer, Breast Cancer Now (UK)
That’s all for this week! See you next time,
Anna