💌 Issue 149: Flo Health on privacy | Contraline raises $92.5m | Clue makes reimbursement history | UK Government responds on censorship
The global weekly briefing on women's health innovation and Femtech
Welcome to issue #149 FutureFemHealth, (w/c June 1 2026) - the global weekly briefing on women’s health innovation.
🌟 In this week’s briefing:
👀 Flo Health publicly addresses privacy lawsuit as Dutch complaint emerges
🏆 Clue becomes the first insurance-covered period and cycle tracker
💍 ŌURA pushes further into healthcare with Ring 5 launch
👩🏽💻 UK Government responds to concerns over women's health content censorship
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💰 Capital flows
📌 US: Contraline raises $92.5 million Series B for male contraception. Few options for male contraception have progressed into late-stage clinical development despite their potential to reduce reliance on female hormonal contraception, share responsibility for contraception more evenly and create new approaches to family planning. Contraline’s latest raise will support NES/T Gel, a daily hormonal male contraceptive that recently completed a Phase 2b trial involving 462 couples and is expected to enter Phase 3 development in 2027. The company says this would be the first Phase 3 trial of a pharmacological male contraceptive. Funding will also support development of ADAM, its long-lasting non-hormonal contraceptive. (Continue reading: Contraline)
📌 US: Elation Health acquires women's health startup Aster. This deal sees a women's health-focused electronic health records (EHR) company acquired by a mainstream primary care platform. Founded in 2023, Aster developed AI-powered clinical and administrative tools designed for women's health providers. The acquisition will bring Aster's team and technology into Elation Health's platform, which serves more than 50,000 clinicians and 24 million patients across the US. Aster had previously raised $2.8m in capital. No deal terms disclosed. (Continue reading: Elation Health)
🌟 Industry moves and strategic shifts
📌 GLOBAL: Flo Health publicly addresses privacy lawsuit. The world's largest period-tracking app is publicly revisiting the lawsuit that resulted in an $8 million settlement last year and is responding to longstanding concerns about reproductive health data. Flo Health has launched a campaign featuring its privacy and security teams, and in a series of videos and posts says that "sensational headlines and narratives" created the perception that it sold user data, which it strongly denies. The campaign marks one of the first times the company has publicly revisited the case in detail. At the same time, Flo is facing a new complaint in the Netherlands relating to its handling of sensitive reproductive health data, highlighting how privacy remains one of the most closely watched issues in women's health. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 GERMANY: Clue becomes the first insurance-covered period and cycle tracker. Menstrual and cycle tracking apps have traditionally been consumer products paid for directly by users. Now Clue has announced a partnership with German private health insurer SDK, making it the first period and menstrual cycle tracking app in the world to be covered by health insurance. The agreement gives eligible SDK members access to Clue Plus at no additional cost and perhaps shows a change in how payers view menstrual and reproductive health tools. (Continue reading: Clue)
📌 US: AI fertility platform Alife Health receives FDA clearance for embryo assessment tool. Embryo selection is one of the most important decisions made during IVF treatment, making it a growing area of interest for AI developers. Alife Health has secured FDA clearance for Embryo Predict, an AI-powered tool that analyses embryo images and generates a score to help embryologists identify embryos with the highest likelihood of resulting in pregnancy. The clearance was supported by a multi-centre clinical trial involving 440 patients across seven US fertility clinics. (Continue reading: PR Newswire)
📌 FRANCE: FemTech sector grows to 200 startups as ecosystem shows signs of maturity. Up from 170 startups just a year ago, the latest French Femtech Landscape report from Femtech France and consulting firm Wavestone indicates a market beginning to show signs of commercial maturity. Nearly a quarter (23%) of startups are already profitable, 41% have been operating for more than five years and seven now benefit from reimbursement through the French national health insurance system. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 GLOBAL: ŌURA launches Ring 5 with new GLP-1 tracking features and further push into healthcare. While much of the attention has focused on Oura Ring 5 being 40% smaller than its predecessor, the bigger story may be ŌURA’s continued move from health tracking into healthcare. Alongside new features including GLP-1 Insights, blood pressure trend monitoring and AI-powered health guidance, ŌURA has announced partnerships that allow users to access personalised medical advice and connect with licensed healthcare providers directly through the Oura app. Regular readers of FutureFemHealth will know that women make up the majority of Oura’s user base, making it one of the most influential consumer health platforms in women’s health. This launch suggests ŌURA increasingly sees its future not just in helping people understand their health, but in helping them act on it. (Continue reading: Oura)
📌 US: Walmart begins nationwide rollout of Nella pelvic exam comfort kit. For many women, pelvic exams are associated with discomfort, anxiety and loss of control. Walmart is rolling out Nella’s pelvic exam comfort kit nationwide, allowing women to purchase their own speculum and comfort products ahead of gynaecological appointments. Designed to improve the exam experience, the launch brings a product typically associated with clinical settings into mainstream retail. (Continue reading: Ceek Women’s Health)
📌 UK: Adora Health partners with Medicash to expand workplace menopause support. As UK employers prepare for new menopause action plan requirements under the Employment Rights Act, workplace menopause support is increasingly moving from a nice-to-have benefit to a strategic workforce issue. Women’s health platform Adora Health has partnered with employee health benefits provider Medicash to provide menopause support through employer-funded health benefits. (Continue reading: Adora)
📌 CANADA: Cosm Medical partners with Duke and Mayo Clinic on personalised pelvic recovery devices. Post-operative recovery options following pelvic floor surgery remain relatively limited and largely standardised. Cosm Medical has partnered with Duke Health and Mayo Clinic to develop patient-specific recovery devices using medical imaging, AI-driven design and 3D printing. The collaboration will explore whether personalised devices can improve healing and recovery following pelvic floor surgery. (Continue reading: Cosm)
📌 MIGRAINE: EU approves AbbVie’s AQUIPTA for acute migraine treatment. Migraine disproportionately affects women yet remains one of the most under-recognised causes of disability worldwide. The European Commission has approved AbbVie’s AQUIPTA (atogepant) as an acute treatment for migraine, expanding its use beyond prevention. The decision means European patients will be able to use the same medicine for both preventing migraine and treating attacks when they occur. (Continue reading: Abbvie)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 UK: DNA test could spare thousands of breast cancer patients from chemotherapy. A number of breast cancer patients undergo chemotherapy despite receiving little benefit from it. Researchers led by University College London found that a genomic test called Prosigna can identify women with early-stage hormone receptor-positive breast cancer who may be able to safely avoid chemotherapy. In a study of more than 4,000 women, over two-thirds received hormone therapy alone while maintaining similar five-year survival outcomes. Researchers estimate the findings could spare more than 5,000 NHS patients each year from unnecessary treatment. (Continue reading: BBC)
📌 US: Hormone therapy use for menopause falls to just 1.7% despite growing evidence of benefits. While it can feel as though the conversation around HRT is everywhere, new data suggests uptake remains shockingly low. A Mayo Clinic study found that menopausal hormone therapy use in the US fell from 4.4% of women over 40 in 2007 to just 1.7% in 2023. Even among women aged 50–59, who are often considered the group most likely to benefit, only 3.5% were using hormone therapy. Researchers say ongoing misinformation, clinician knowledge gaps and lingering concerns following the infamous Women’s Health Initiative study may be contributing to the low uptake. The findings suggest that increased awareness of menopause has not yet translated into widespread access to evidence-based treatment. (Continue reading: Newswise)
📌 UK/US: Oxford and Stanford researchers develop wearable ultrasound patch for continuous pregnancy monitoring. Most pregnancy monitoring relies on intermittent scans, meaning complications can develop between appointments. Researchers from Oxford and Stanford have developed a soft wearable ultrasound patch that continuously tracks fetal blood flow and wellbeing for hours at a time. Tested across 62 pregnancies, the technology could help clinicians identify complications such as pre-eclampsia, fetal growth restriction and placental dysfunction earlier, with the long-term goal of supporting at-home monitoring. (Continue reading: University of Oxford)
💡 Perspectives
📌 GLOBAL: Can FemTech scale without serving affluent women first? Everyone wants women’s health innovation to be accessible, inclusive and representative. But building diverse datasets, running inclusive clinical studies and reaching underserved populations all require time, money and infrastructure. In our latest FutureFemHealth Pro piece, we explore the tension between commercial reality and healthcare equity, asking not whether inclusion matters, but how a still-maturing sector can realistically achieve it. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth Pro)
📌 NORDICS: Can the Nordics build the first systems-level blueprint for women’s health? Women’s health is often discussed as a series of disconnected problems to solve - from menopause to fertility, funding to research. The new Women’s Health 2040 Playbook argues that many of these challenges are connected and should be approached as part of a wider system. Developed with the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, the framework aims to align research, care, policy, data and AI infrastructure across the Nordic region through a shared open-source approach. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📄 Policy watch: risks and opportunities
📌 UK: Government responds to concerns over women’s health content censorship online. Finally, it seems that the censorship and suppression of women’s health content is becoming a policy issue rather than simply a platform moderation issue. In the latest development, the UK Government has formally responded to recommendations from the Women and Equalities Committee calling for them to hold platforms accountable, highlighting existing protections under the Online Safety Act but stopping short of introducing new measures specifically targeting women’s health censorship. Women and Equalities Committee Chair Sarah Owen MP said the Government should take the problem of shadowbanning more seriously, while also calling for greater scrutiny of “ineffective, unsafe and exploitative” FemTech apps. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 GLOBAL: Eight countries pledge record US$175m for women’s health supplies amid growing funding concerns. Every day more than 700 women die from preventable complications during pregnancy and childbirth. Against a backdrop of global funding cuts and a projected US$185 million contraceptive funding gap in 2026, eight countries have committed more than US$175 million towards contraceptives and reproductive, maternal and newborn health supplies. The pledges, from countries including Ethiopia, Ghana, Honduras, Nigeria, Senegal and Zambia, suggest some governments are now treating women’s health supplies as essential infrastructure rather than optional public health spending. (Continue reading: UNFPA)
📌 EU: Open letter calls for dedicated EU funding for women’s health. Europe can’t close the gender health gap without dedicated EU funding for women’s health research. And the EU is now entering the decisive phase for its next big research funding programme for 2028–2034 – the 10th Framework Programme for Research and Innovation. An open letter from women’s health leaders and organisations is now calling on Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva to support the establishment of a dedicated EU instrument on women’s health R&I within the programme. (Continue reading: DSW via LinkedIn - note deadline extended to June 23)
📆 Opportunities & support
📌 VIRTUAL/FINLAND: Eir Accelerator - a women’s health program for global startups. Eir Accelerator is a six-month, fully funded accelerator, powered by the Women's Health Hub Finland and partners. It’s accepting women's health startups globally for its free program that provides support with fundraising, scaling and pilot opportunities.
🎟️ Find out more and apply to the programme.
📌 VIRTUAL / UK: The Nexus women’s health collective - supported by Barclays Eagle Labs. Apply before 15 June for a new nine-month cohort of 30 companies building in women’s health. You’ll be surrounded with mentors, investors, finance expertise and a tight peer groups, so you’ll leave the programme stronger, better connected, and ready to raise.
🎟️ Find out more and apply to the programme.
That’s all for this week! If you’ve missed any previous newsletter issues catch them all at futurefemhealth.com and do make sure to follow us on LinkedIn and you can connect with me directly.
Anna
