Issue 35: Qvin's world-first diagnostic period pad | $8.5m for Annabella pump | $3m for Health in her HUE
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news
Hello and welcome to issue #35 of FutureFemHealth (w/c 8 January 2023).
What a start to the year! This week we’ve had Gillian Anderson’s vulva dress breaking down taboos at the Golden Globes, several brilliant funding announcements and, of course, that major breakthrough from Qvin as they got approval to use menstrual blood for health tests. Let’s hope it’s a sign of things to come in 2024, right?
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
🩸Qvin’s world-first diagnostic period pad gets FDA-clearance
👩🏽💻 Femme Health launches its ‘online department store’ for fertility and conception support
❤️ $8.5m for Annabella, the breast pump that feels like breastfeeding
🔥 $3m for Health in her HUE, the healthtech platform reducing racial disparities
Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Or want to work with us in 2024? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com.
🏆 Qvin’s world-first diagnostic period pad secures FDA-clearance
Menstrual blood is still mostly treated as a waste product.
But ten years ago founder Dr Sara Naseri set out to change that.
A decade on - and after a lot of hard work - Dr Sara and her co-founder Søren Therkelsen have announced a world-first for their biotech research company Qvin .
Qvin’s period pad, the ‘Q-pad’, has been cleared by the FDA as the first-ever menstrual blood health test - initially for diabetes blood glucose monitoring.
In a nutshell, users simply tear off the testing strip from the period pad after use, pop it in a package to a lab and get their medical results by app or email a few days later.
No invasive blood test. No trip to a doctor’s office. Accurate test results using your period blood.
This is an exceptional achievement by Qvin and lays the foundation for many more use cases for diagnostics and monitoring using menstrual blood.
As Dr Sara explained:
“Menstrual blood - the most overlooked opportunity in women’s health, a waste product, and in many cultures still a stigma and taboo - is as of today [8 Jan] no longer just waste but in fact a valuable, accessible and non-invasive source of health information.”
"With the first ever FDA-cleared menstrual blood health test, Qvin is paving the way to important new opportunities for women's health and this is just the beginning,"
"We are simplifying routine testing, and freeing up resources that can be used on providing care and ultimately our goal is to make health care much more accessible."
(Continue reading: FutureFemHealth )
👩🏽💻 Femme Health launches ‘online department store’ for fertility and conception support
40+ brands including Daye, Hertility and Wild Nutrition have joined a new marketplace for fertility and conception support - Femme Health.
The ‘online department store’ is a new route to market for UK-based professional diagnostic company Una Health, following an idea sparked at The Fertility Show in May 2023.
Co-founder Stefanie Meachin said:
“Many women visit a GP and if they haven’t been trying [to conceive] for a set period of time, they are told to return [at a later date], and when they leave that appointment where do they go?
“Femme is aiming to be their first destination should they want to look into further tests, supplements, or additional support.”
(Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 $8.5 million for Annabella breast pump. US expansion is on the cards for Israel-based Annabella and founders Masha Waldberg and Uri Yaffe. Its patented breast pump, which simulates a baby suckling, is already FDA-cleared. Annabella was previously featured on Israel’s Shark Tank TV show. This round of seed funding was from Shark Tank’s Yasmin Lukatz and others, as well as a crowdfund of $3m. (Source: Mother.ly)
📌 $3m for Health in her HUE. This healthtech startup connects Black women and women of color with culturally sensitive and responsive healthcare providers and content. The aim is to reduce racial health disparities and improve outcomes. Seed funding will allow founder Ashlee Wisdom to invest in talent and build out new programs and content. Funding was led by Seae Ventures, a firm which specialises in funding early stage healthtech companies with diverse founders. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 Hera Biotech to make acquisition in endometriosis diagnostic market. Hera Biotech wants to speed up the creation of clinical tools to diagnose endometriosis and development of therapies too. It is acquiring the diagnostic assets and associated IP of Scailyte, an AI-driven biomarker discovery company. This strategic partnership will bring together the only two tissue-based diagnostic programs for endometriosis. (Source: Business Wire)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 UK: What went wrong at Dr Fertility? After raising £2.6million in funding and helping countless people with their infertility, this start-up has quietly gone into liquidation. “Dr Fertility was our ‘third child’. It was heart-breaking to have to close the business,” says co-founder Dr Lucy Buckley. (Source: Business Cloud)
📌 INDIA: The hub of growth and opportunities in FemTech. With 624 million women with unique healthcare needs, India is not just an economic opportunity for FemTech and wellness but a societal imperative too. Fertility and reproductive health, mental health and broader wellness are standout categories. (Source: FemTech India)
📌 US: Kindbody’s growth ambitions spotlight tension between Venture Capital and Patient Care. Fertility scale-up Kindbody has come under scrutiny for allegedly nudging doctors to ramp up egg retrievals - to boost profit margins and chances of an IPO. A brilliantly thought-provoking read about the broader importance of this issue. (Source: FemTech Insider)
📌 CANADA: Natural Cycles now approved as a birth control app. Health Canada has given the go-ahead for the app to be marketed and sold as birth control - previously it could only do so as a fertility tracker. Natural Cycles now has approval as birth control in the US, Europe, Australia, Singapore and S. Korea. (Source: Natural Cycles).
📌 US: 8 benefits areas HR is focusing on in 2024. Menopause, weight loss drug coverage, precision medicine, family-forming benefits and mental health benefits are set to be top of the HR benefits agenda this year. (Source: HR Executive)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 UK: How can we overcome women’s health inequalities in marginalised communities? A launch report from the Wellbeing of Women’s ‘Health Collective’ has set out barriers including inaccessible health information, lack of diverse imagery and unconscious bias. Key recommendations for funding, grassroots support and health system improvement will be fed into the delivery of the Government’s Women’s Health Strategy. (Source: Wellbeing of Women)
📌 US & AUSTRALIA: Injectable gel could be next male contraceptive. US-based Biotech company Contraline has safely implanted a sperm-blocking hydrogel in 23 men in Australia in an early-stage trial. It’s designed to last 1-2 years and be fully reversible. (Source: Wired)
📌 US: Bayer’s menopausal relief drug succeeds in late-stage trial. Another non-hormonal drug to ease hot flushes is on the horizon in the form of Bayer’s Elinzanetant. It’s hot on the heels of Astella’s Veoza (aka fezolinetant) which got US and UK approval last year. (Source: Reuters)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 UK: Birth trauma inquiry launches - add your views. Written submissions are invited to the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) inquiry investigating the reasons for traumatic birth with a view to developing policy recommendations to help reduce rates. Personal and professional insights are sought. Closing date 6 Feb. (Add your voice to the inquiry here: Birth Trauma inquiry)
✅ Jobs
Looking for a job in women’s health? We’ve got a few new roles for you below.
Plus, an event for you - do you want to build your career in women’s health? This Independent Life’s Rebekah Lloyd is a hosting virtual workshop all about that on Monday 15 January.
📌 Corporate Partnerships Manager, Wellbeing of Women (UK). Join this leading women’s charity to help grow income from corporate and brand partnerships.
📌 Digital Engagement Manager, Wellbeing of Women (UK).
📌 Head of Engineering, Vira Health (UK). Join the team behind online menopause clinic Stella.
📌 iOS App Developer, Vira Health (UK)
📌 Social media and content creator, PAPAYA (India). Join the bold taboo-breaking brand making a plastic-free, fully compostable and innovative menstrual pad.
📌 Senior Retail Account Manager, The Flex Company (California, US / remote)
That’s all for this week!
See you next time, and thanks for reading,
Anna