Issue 52: Project ACL | Mae & maternal health disparities | Natural Cycles launches postpartum mode

+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news

May 08, 2024

Hello! You’re reading issue #52 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 6 May 2024).

🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:

⚽ Preventing female sports injuries with ‘Project ACL’
❤️ Mae closes seed round to reduce maternal health disparities
👩🏽‍💻 Natural Cycles launches postpartum support mode
✅ The pelvic health system ‘ready to go’ in the NHS

Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Or would you like to sponsor our newsletter? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com

Before we get started…it’s over a month to go now until ‘Decoding the future of women’ - the women’s healthtech conference brought to you by FemTech Lab. The line-up is incredible and with the agenda including topics such as ‘the future FemTech consumer’ and ‘the new era of wearable technology’ it’s really not one to miss.

Today is your LAST chance to get a ticket before prices increase. Use my code FUTUREFEMHEALTH at the check-out for 20% off.

Book here

⚽ ‘Project ACL’ launches as women’s sport catalyses more interest in the gender health gap

The rising popularity of women’s sports is a catalyst for groundbreaking research into gender-specific health issues.

Because there’s a growing recognition that if sport is to flourish then a deeper understanding of female physiology is critical.

Results of a three-year study out last week are a great example of this.

It found that female football players were 6x more likely to pick up a muscle injury in the days leading up to their period, compared to when they were on their period. Yes, it was ‘safer’ for them to play while menstruating!

Dr Georgie Bruinvels, a senior author of the study said that while this was a small study (just 26 players) it highlights the need for more research:

“Conducting large-scale research is complex but must be prioritised to best support female athletes, and we hope studies like this will pave the way for this.
“If future research demonstrates that there are risk windows for certain injury types, we should be proactive in mitigating these risks to enable female athletes to exercise and compete on any given day.”

Practical steps are already in motion. Chelsea Women’s Football Club recently appointed a pelvic health specialist, and more than half of the Women’s Super League use the FitrWoman app to track cycles and tailor training and nutrition.

Last week also saw the launch of a new initiative ‘Project ACL’ - to try and reduce ACL injuries in women’s football.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries significantly affect female football players' careers and health, making prevention critical.

Project ACL brings together the Players’ union, Professional Footballers Association, sports brand Nike and Leeds Beckett University.

Slightly bizarrely though, this research won’t be looking at female physiology (even though ACL injuries are two to six times more likely to occur in women than men).

Instead, it will be a first-of-its-kind look at the potential environmental causes of injuries - such as facilities, travel, training and the match-calendar.

Dr. Stacey Emmonds, Reader in Sports Performance at Leeds Beckett University, said:

"Most of the research to date on ACL injury has focused on single sex-based risk factors like the mechanics of female bodies.
“Our research will look at the bigger picture to consider the gendered environmental factors that may influence injury risk in women's professional football."

In other words: how do we redesign a sporting world that was originally designed for men. I like it a lot.

My hope is that all of this can be combined into a greater understanding of how to enhance female sports performance so that women’s sports can continue to grow.

And, more importantly, that the halo effect of this interest extends much, much more broadly than elite athletes, until we all get the much-needed investment into women’s health research that we deserve.

💰 Funding, deals and investment news

📌 US: Start-up Mae closes oversubscribed seed funding round to reduce maternal health disparities. Black Americans face a maternal mortality rate more than two and a half times higher than other demographic groups. And 16% of Black babies are born in areas with limited or no access to maternity care services. Start-up Mae combines digital engagement and a risk-tracking platform with community-based doula support. Seed funding came from investors including RH Capital, Avestria Ventures and Jumpstart Nova. (Source: Business Wire)

📌 US: Supplement start-Wile acquired. In the space of four years, Wile developed a range of perimenopause supplements, got stocked in Whole Foods, secured $3.8m in funding and got backing from Serena Williams’ fund Serena Ventures. Phew! Now, it’s just been acquired by Austin-based Nameless CPG - although the amount was undisclosed. (Source: Biz Journals)

📌 UK: Hologic acquire’s Endomagnetics for $310m. Endomag specialises in innovative technologies for breast surgery which will complement Hologic’s existing breast surgery portfolio and give surgeons even more options to meet the individual needs of women. (Source: Medical Device Network)

📌 Germany: Women’s health platforms to merge. Two German platforms that support pregnant women and mothers with online courses, 1:1 consultations and resources are to merge under the brand name Keleya. The existing start-ups (Keleya and Kinderheldin) are already used by 15% of all pregnant women in Germany, and they work with 65 health insurers covering 65% of all insured persons in Germany. The merger will mean more women can access more services. (Source: Tech.eu)

📌 US: Nuvo becomes a public company to expand remote pregnancy monitoring. Nuvo’s wearable tech gives both patients and healthcare providers real-time insights into maternal and fetal health. It’s now combined with LAMF Global Ventures Corp and will trade on the NASDAQ stock exchange. The deal means more resources for the company to expand internationally and better address health disparities. (Source: Hitconsultant)

🌟 More news from this week

📌 Natural Cycles launches postpartum support mode. While most people associate Natural Cycles with preventing pregnancy as a birth control app, it wants to go beyond birth control and support broader needs in women’s health. It’s partnered with Postpartum Support International to launch a new celebrity-backed campaign ‘Is Mommy Okay?’ and its new postpartum mode to improve mental and physical maternal health. (Source: FutureFemHealth)

📌 UK: NHS study rates the MUTU pelvic health system as ‘ready to go’ for gynaecological care crisis. With nearly 600,000 people in England currently on a gynaecology hospital care waitlist, solutions are urgently needed. Now an independent NHS study has concluded that start-up the MUTU system helps reduce prolapse, urinary incontinence and painful sex in an accessible and cost-effective way. Let’s hope this leads to implementation across the NHS. (Source: FutureFemHealth)

📌 US: FDA breakthrough designation brings Teal Health at-home cervical cancer screening one step closer. Cervical cancer is now known to be preventable - but screening rates remain low. Other countries, such as Australia, have been doing self-collect for years and are on track to eliminate cervical cancer by 2035. Now Teal Health is one step closer to bringing at-home self-collect screening to the US after it was given FDA Breakthrough Designation following promising mid-point clinical trial data (that means it’s now got priority status when it submits its final application!) (Source: FutureFemHealth)

📌 US: Period Nirvana to open brick and mortar location. Imagine a standalone store focused exclusively on reusable and organic period care products, educational books and in-person courses, and a period products ‘museum’. Period Nirvana is bringing the dream to life with a first store. (Source: Kim Rosas on LinkedIn)

📌 US: Start-up pitches AI blood test to diagnose postpartum depression. Postpartum depression is a leading cause of maternal death but diagnosis and treatment is poor. Dionysus Digital Health has developed a $250 blood test (not yet FDA approved) to check for the condition, even before symptoms appear. Its machine learning tool spots patterns based on ten years of research from those who did and didn’t develop postpartum depression. However, psychiatrist Elizabeth LaRusso has warned screening will only help if women can also access follow-up treatment and care. (Source: The Washington Post)

🩸 Research and women’s health news

📌 US: No need to fear menopause hormone drugs, finds major women’s health study. It’s the most infamous piece of research in the history of women’s health - a study of 160,000 women that when ended in 2002 sent HRT usage rates plummeting and caused a generation of doctors and women to fear its use. Now the 20-year follow-up confirms what we’ve known for a while - the fears were misplaced. (Source: The Washington Post)

📌 UK: Homerton Fertility Clinic suspension extended by regulator. Serious incidents in UK fertility clinics are rare, but after “significant concerns” about frozen embryos not surviving being thawed, Homerton’s license was suspended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in March. It’s now just been extended until August while investigations continue. (Source: Evening Standard)

📌 Get involved: Are you ready for the millennopause? Menopause has gone mainstream - but what has that buzz done to the millennial mindset? My friend Hannah Wrathall, of Wrapp Consulting, is conducting some research into our perceptions of menopause. If you are between 28-43 years old please share your views here.

📄 Govt & policy news

📌 US: Halle Berry joins senators to call for menopause legislation. Another great step forward for women’s health as a groundbreaking bill, introduced by Halle Berry and senators, has pushed for $275million towards menopause research, training and education. (Source: CBS News)

📌 Set up women’s health hubs by July, says NHS England. The Government’s Women’s Health strategy continues to underwhelm. Now the Government is hurrying up the creation of the long awaited ‘women’s health hubs’ - asking each integrated care board (ICB) to have at least one in operation by July (i.e before the election). New advice clarifies that it’s ok for them to be in GP surgeries or to be digital resources such as virtual triage and consultation. (Source: Pulse Today)

📌 US: Breast cancer screening should start at 40, recommends taskforce. The five-year survival rate in the US for breast cancer when discovered early is 99%. The US Preventative Services Task Force has now logged its final recommendation on breast cancer screening - stating that all women should start getting screened from age 40 (rather than this being an individual decision). That said, some campaigners want to see calls for an annual screening, rather than the taskforce’s recommendation of every two years. (Source: US Preventative Services Task Force