💌 Issue 146: PCOS renamed PMOS | AI consortium launch | ŌURA partners on women's health | Calla Lily doses first patients

The global weekly briefing on women's health innovation and Femtech

Welcome to issue #146 of FutureFemHealth, (w/c May 12 2026) - the global weekly briefing on women’s health innovation.

FutureFemHealth has had a glow up! Over the past three years, both the content and the ambition behind FutureFemHealth has evolved... and honestly, the brand hadn’t caught up. That’s why, over the past few months I’ve been working behind the scenes with the team at BOLD LIP - a female-founded creative agency who specialise in women’s health branding - on a full rebrand for the platform. I’ve written a behind-the-scenes look at the process, the thinking behind the new identity, and what this next chapter of FutureFemHealth looks like. Read it here.

🌟 In this week’s briefing:

• 🧠 PCOS renamed PMOS after 14-year campaign to reflect broader metabolic and hormonal impact of the condition.

• 🤖 Women’s health leaders launch first AI consortium to create standards for safety, bias and transparency.

• 🌍 Abu Dhabi and ŌURA partner on women’s health and prevention research using wearable data.

• 💊 Calla Lily doses first patients in miscarriage trial testing leak-free vaginal drug delivery device.

Share your news for next week: anna@futurefemhealth.com

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This week’s newsletter is powered by BOLD LIP.

In women’s health, clarity is what makes trust possible. BOLD LIP is the branding agency built exclusively for women’s health organizations, helping them launch, evolve, and grow with branding that audiences understand and stakeholders believe in. Through strategy, messaging, design, and digital experience, BOLD LIP builds brand systems that strengthen your impact.

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💰 Capital flows

📌 US: Tot Squad acquires AI doula startup Robyn to expand maternal support platform. Parenting platform Tot Squad has acquired Robyn, an AI-powered doula trained on more than 70,000 real messages between parents and doulas. The deal adds 24/7 AI maternal support to Tot Squad’s existing offerings, which already include registry concierge services at Target and access to doulas and lactation consultants through its MotherFund platform. The acquisition reflects growing interest in combining human care with always-on AI guidance in maternal health - particularly as startups look to support parents continuously rather than only at moments of clinical intervention. Robyn enters closed beta this summer, with a wider rollout planned for later this year. (Continue reading: Tot Squad / EIN Presswire)

📌 INDIA/US: TechThrive Ventures launches $7m San-Francisco-based fund. Founded by FemTech India’s Navneet Kaur, TechThrive will invest in pre-seed consumer health, wellness, longevity and women’s health startups across the US and India. The new fund is part of Decile Access - a platform that connects LPs with emerging venture fund managers launched through VC Lab and the Decile Group ecosystem.(Continue reading: Navneet Kaur on LinkedIn)

📌 UK/EUROPE: Arāya Ventures and Sie Ventures launch £7.5m fund backing female founders. The new Arāya Sie Fund will back up to 40 pre-seed and seed-stage startups across AI, deeptech, fintech, healthcare and sustainability, with around 70% of capital for the UK. Backed by the British Business Bank through its Regional Angels Programme. (Continue reading: UKTN)

🌟 Industry moves and strategic shifts

📌 PCOS renamed PMOS in landmark shift for women’s health. After a 14-year-long campaign, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) is being renamed Polyendocrine Metabolic Ovarian Syndrome (PMOS) in a major move researchers and patient advocates say could reshape diagnosis, research and understanding of one of the world’s most common women’s health conditions. The change, announced in The Lancet by the International PCOS Network, reflects growing recognition that the condition extends far beyond the ovaries - affecting hormones, metabolism, mental health, skin and long-term disease risk. Professor Helena Teede called the decision a “landmark moment” that could drive long-overdue improvements in care and clinical practice. However, some campaigners have raised concerns that the new acronym may create confusion and additional rebranding costs for smaller organisations and support groups. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 Women’s health leaders launch AI consortium to set standards for the sector. A new Women’s Health AI Consortium co-founded by Willow and Ema EQ is bringing together executives and experts from organisations including Clue, Oura and Thrive Global to create shared standards for AI in women’s health. The group says women are at risk of being failed again by AI systems trained on incomplete datasets and launched without sufficient oversight. The consortium plans to focus on areas including clinical safety, bias reduction, transparency and “emotional and clinical quality at scale” as more women’s health companies roll out AI-powered tools and coaching products. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 UAE: Abu Dhabi partners with ŌURA to study wearable data in women’s health and prevention. The Department of Health – Abu Dhabi and smart ring company ŌURA have launched a joint research programme exploring how continuous wearable data could support earlier intervention and more personalised care. What’s fascinating is that the partnership will initially focus on women’s health, preconception care and cardiometabolic risk - a sure sign that women’s health is seen as an entry point for prevention-led healthcare systems. It’s early days, but Abu Dhabi’s combination of capital, longitudinal health data and centralised healthcare infrastructure could make it a real-world testing ground for whether women’s health itself becomes the foundation for next-generation preventive healthcare models - with implications inspiring far beyond the UAE if successful. The press release framing too positions women’s health as central to wider population health and economic outcomes, with ŌURA CEO Tom Hale stating: “the health of women is the health of families, and the health of families is the health of the nation.” (Continue reading: Department of Health – Abu Dhabi / ŌURA)

📌 UK: Calla Lily Clinical Care doses first patients in miscarriage treatment trial. Vaginal pessaries for drug delivery can leak, shift position, and be uncomfortable to use - with some patients advised to lie down after they’ve inserted them. Calla Lily is working towards a leak-free device to improve comfort, consistency and absorption of vaginally-administered drugs. It’s now dosing its first patients in a clinical trial funded by NIHR to test its tampon-like drug delivery device in women at risk of miscarriage where progesterone is recommended by NICE. Co-founder Thang Vo-Ta says the device has ‘massive potential’ beyond miscarriage for drug delivery in areas such as IVF. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

🩸 Research and women’s health news

📌 UK: Women dismissed by healthcare professionals are turning to AI and social media for health advice. More than half of women say their pain has been ignored or dismissed by healthcare professionals, according to new research from Nurofen — rising to 73% among women aged 18–24. The report found many women are increasingly turning to AI tools, social media and other online sources for answers instead, with 74% of those who experienced dismissal seeking help from unverified sources and 91% acting on the advice they found. The findings come just weeks after the Government’s updated Women’s Health Strategy acknowledged the impact of medical misogyny. Alongside the report, Nurofen said it plans to train 10,000 pharmacists at Boots on recognising gender pain dismissal and expand access to its Pain Pass symptom-tracking tool, which is designed to help women communicate symptoms more clearly during appointments. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📌 AUSTRALIA: Baymatob awarded $1.3m AUD by NSW Government for AI-powered maternal-foetal health platform. Baymatob’s ‘Oli’ platform saves lives by providing early warning for serious, treatable complications in pregnancy and labour, such as postpartum haemorrhage, stillbirth and uterine rupture. Postpartum haemorrhage is the leading cause of preventable maternal death worldwide. The funding will support the company’s clinical trials and deep-tech innovation. (Continue reading: Medical research NSW)

📌 US: Women are delaying care for hemorrhoids and anal fissures because of stigma, embarrassment and poor education. A survey of 533 US women who had experienced anorectal conditions suggests many felt undertreated despite seeking medical help, while others said they were never warned about the risk of hemorrhoids after pregnancy and childbirth. Nearly four in 10 respondents had experienced the condition three or more times, while the postpartum period emerged as a major gap in support and awareness. Dr Carmen Fong, chief medical officer at Bummed who carried out the research, says stigma is delaying care, with some patients waiting years to seek treatment because they were “embarrassed about having someone look at their butt”. Dr Fong also warns that more serious conditions could be missed when symptoms are dismissed or hidden. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)

📄 Policy watch

📌 ENGLAND: NHS overhauls clinical standards to reduce maternal deaths. Every maternity service in England will be required to meet new clinical safety standards under an NHS overhaul aimed at reducing maternal deaths, after data showed improvements in care could have changed outcomes in nearly half of cases. The full roll-out is expected by March 2027. (Continue reading: NHS)

📆 Save the date

📌AUSTRALIA: Breaking the silos: the women’s health medtech summit. Sydney, May 27-28. This inaugural event is dedicated to addressing long-standing gaps in research, innovation, and policy affecting women’s health in Australia. The program brings together leading voices shaping the national conversation on women’s health in MedTech - spanning media, policy, research, and industry - to drive real system change.
🎟️ Tickets here.

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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

Before you go…

FutureFemHealth now offers FutureFemHealth Pro - our new paid layer focused on deeper analysis on where women’s health is going.

Founders, investors, operators and leaders across the space are already joining FFH Pro and you can explore our first pieces: our Q1 funding tracker and key signals, or our feature on the bone health market.

Looking ahead, Pro is where I’ll now be sharing:

• deeper dives into specific areas

• more context and analysis behind the headlines

• and the thinking that doesn’t fit into a weekly briefing

This weekly newsletter will continue as normal - but this is the direction FutureFemHealth is evolving in.

If you’d like to go deeper, you can join FutureFemHealth Pro here and receive our next piece this Friday, where I’ll be exploring the emerging ‘trust layer’ in women’s health:

As always, this newsletter is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or financial advice.