💌 Issue 109: The earpiece reducing period pain | Plexāā secures $4.5m to support US launch | WeightWatchers pivots to menopause | Organon abandons trial
+ lots more in your weekly round-up of women's health innovation and FemTech news
Hello and welcome to issue #109 of FutureFemHealth (w/c July 7 2025).
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
🩸 OhmBody launches wearable earpiece to reduce pain and heaviness of periods
💰 MedTech startup Plexāā secures $4.5m to support US launch of breast surgery device
✅ WeightWatchers pivots to menopause care as it emerges from bankruptcy
🛑 Organon abandons endometriosis pain drug development after trial failure
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🩸 OhmBody launches wearable earpiece to reduce pain and heaviness of periods
A new wearable wellness device that uses neurostimulation to relieve period symptoms without drugs or hormones has been launched by OhmBody, the women’s health division of Texas-based neurotechnology company Spark Biomedical.
Worn as a discreet earpiece, the device delivers low-frequency pulses to the vagus and trigeminal nerves — two key players involved in regulating pain, mood, digestion and blood flow.
“We didn’t create OhmBody to help you ‘power through’ your cycle. We created it so you don’t have to,” said Amy Gaston, VP of Strategic Growth at OhmBody.
“No more heating pads, doubling up on protection, planning your wardrobe and your life around your period, and pretending everything is fine. It’s time for smarter period care that moves with you.”
From TENS to targeted neuromodulation
Wearables for period pain relief are nothing new (shall we consider the humble hot water bottle as the original?!)
More recently, TENS machines (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) have been the go-to for drug-free pain relief, using surface-level electrical pulses to distract from discomfort.
But OhmBody is part of a newer wave of neurostimulation tools aiming to intervene more directly in the body’s regulatory systems. It joins emerging devices like Samphire Neuroscience’s Nettle, a CE-marked headband that targets the brain to relieve PMS and menstrual pain.
Early evidence - and what’s next
A very small early-stage clinical trial of 16 participants has seen positive results for OhmBody - 88% of participants experienced greater menstrual comfort, with an average 55% reduction in blood loss and a 35% reduction on day one of the cycle.
A larger randomized controlled trial is now planned for early 2026, and will be used to support a de novo submission to the FDA for regulatory clearance.
And while OhmBody’s initial focus is the US market, I’m told that expansion to Europe and beyond is also on the cards for 2026.
💰 Funding, deals and investment news
📌 UK: MedTech startup Plexāā secures $4.5m to support US launch of breast surgery device. Plexāā’s BLOOM⁴³ wearable is designed to improve recovery and reduce complications after breast surgery by boosting blood flow and skin healing. This funding extension round (ahead of a planned Series A) includes continued support from TCP Health Ventures, the healthcare investment arm of The Capital Partnership, which led Plexāā’s seed funding. Notably, additional backing comes from THENA Capital, a London-based firm which launched earlier this year - and this is their first investment. The round also includes over $1.6 million in grant funding via the UK’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 US: Sama Fertility raises $3.8m to make IVF more accessible. Sama is launching a program called SimpleIVF, which requires patients to visit a clinic in person only twice: once at the beginning of the process and again at the end. The mostly virtual program doesn’t take insurance and charges $6,000 per cycle. Medications, lab testing and other services like egg freezing are not included. As part of the offer however, Sama guarantees a full refund for patients who do not deliver a baby. SNR Ventures led this seed round. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
📌 INDIA: Luma Fertility secures $4M seed to roll out tech-enabled IVF clinics. Access to quality IVF remains a major barrier in India due to cost and fragmented care. Luma Fertility already runs one of India’s largest and most tech-forward IVF clinics — combining in-person care with digital tools, telehealth support, and remote monitoring. The company also launched India’s first integrated IVF app for patient tracking, report access, and medication guidance. The startup now aims to further streamline treatment journeys, improve outcomes, and expand affordable fertility care through a scalable clinic model. This funding round was led by Peak XV’s Surge. (Continue reading: BW Healthcare World)
🌟 Industry news from this week
📌 US: WeightWatchers eyes menopause care as it emerges from bankruptcy and returns to Nasdaq. Long known for its community-based, behavioural approach to weight loss, WeightWatchers was a casualty of the rise of GLP-1s and filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Now it’s back - with a planned integrated programme for perimenopause, menopause and menopause which will combine medical support (including GLP-1s), tailored nutritional guidance coaching and more. The company has hired an experienced CMO and relisted on Nasdaq too. (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 US: Organon abandons endometriosis pain drug development after trial failure. Organon’s new drug hoped to reduce pelvic pain in women with endometriosis. But it showed no significant improvement compared to placebo in a recent proof-of-concept study. The drug had been acquired through Organon’s $954m purchase of Forendo Pharma and was earmarked as an alternative to current non-steroidal and anti-inflammatory medicines such as ibuprofen. (Continue reading: Reuters)
📌 GLOBAL: The 5 biggest women’s health myths that need to come to an end. We know the healthcare system wasn’t built for women. From the research blindspot to failures in diagnosis, these piece outlines where things are still going wrong. (Continue reading: Science Focus)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 UK: New NHS 10-year plan: doctors warn women will keep suffering as government’s new health plan fails to tackle gender care gap. The government’s anticipated long-term health strategy promises big change - centred around a shift to more preventative health, more care closer to home and communities, and an expanded NHS app. But there’s no clear commitment to closing the gender health gap which costs women years of healthy life, say leading doctors and campaigners. Having taken a look too, I’d have to agree. (Continue reading: Made for Mums)
📌 US: How Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ will affect women. A proposed domestic spending bill from Trump would see deep cuts to Medicaid, Medicare and the Affordable Care Act of $1.1 trillion over a decade. And new work requirements to be eligible for Medicaid could strip coverage from millions. Experts now say that the impact on women will be especially severe, since Medicaid supports vital services like contraception, cancer screenings, maternal care, and mental health support. Currently, 24 million women in the U.S are enrolled in Medicaid; 56% of those women are of reproductive age, and women of color make up over half of this group as well. (Continue reading: Fortune).
🎧 This week’s FemTech Focus podcast
Sin Reglas: Redesigning menopause for women across Latin America
💥 Curious about the landscape of menopause across Latin America? In this week’s episode of the FemTech Focus podcast, Dr Brittany Barreto talks with Gabriela Rojas - CEO and founder of Sin Reglas to explore the first study on menopause in Mexican society, why most Mexican women don’t recognize perimenopause and the status quo of menopause in the workplace in Latin America.
🎧 Listen now or watch on You Tube
That’s all for this week! See you next time. If you’ve missed any previous newsletter issues catch them all at futurefemhealth.com and do make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.
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