Issue 5: Fezolinetant approved, funding gap visualisation, the rise of fertility psychics (9-16 May 2023)
New hot flush drug approved, health funding gap exposed, saving lives of expectant mums in Kenya
Hi! Thanks for joining me!
Something a little different this week as I take a scan through the big news stories that have caught my eye from the world of FemTech and women’s health for this week. Let me know what you think in the comments, I’d love to hear from you.
Anna x
The health funding gap
Next month (June) marks the 30th anniversary of the ruling by NIH that women must be included in clinical research.
It’s such an important milestone (if you’re interested in this topic, in last week’s newsletter I took a look at what’s happened to women’s health research since that date) and I expect we’ll see lots and lots of coverage on this topic in the coming weeks in various media too. Good!
Nature Journal pulled together a stunning data visualisation of the imbalance in health funding. You can explore it here.
Also in Nature, was this article on the gap in women’s health research funding. I thought this nugget was particularly interesting: “at least in the United States, it is difficult to track funding for menopause research, because the NIH hasn’t assigned menopause a unique identification code like the ones other conditions (such as anorexia or prostate cancer) have. Someone wanting to find out must read every grant that mentions ‘menopause’ and add up the numbers manually.”
New drug for hot flushes /flashes approved - ‘Veozah’
Still on the topic of menopause, the hot news this week was the FDA-approval of a new drug for hot flushes called Fezolinetant (it will sell under the name Veozah). The makers of this drug, the Japanese company Astellas, were the ones behind the groundbreaking Superbowl menopause commercial earlier this year, which aimed to raise awareness of vasomotor symptoms (VMS) - of which hot flushes / flashes fall into. This new drug is important because it’s a non-hormonal way to treat hot flushes, so another option for people who don’t want to take HRT or can’t take HRT. It’s worth looking at this closer though - the ever-brilliant menopause journalist Ann-Marie McQueen provides the most thorough and thoughtful overview on her Substack here [subscription required]. The clear message is that the evidence could still be more robust and the drug is expensive too.
‘Hundreds of fertility psychics’ cropping up online
i news covers the the rise of the ‘fertility psychic’ - is this good for a helping people to keep a positive mindset during fertility challenges? Or is it another money-making scheme preying on vulnerable women and men? Let me know what you think!
Efficiency not time saved - the role of generative AI in healthcare
I have a feeling that generative AI won’t save doctors from long hours and back-to-back patients. I hate to break the news to this doctor, quoted in a piece in Los Angeles Times on generative AI in healthcare where he said: “If I have a full patient day, where I might see 15 patients, I would say this [the AI] saves me a good hour at the end of the day,” he said. If the technology is adopted widely, he hopes hospitals won’t take advantage of the saved time by simply scheduling more patients. “That’s not fair,” he said.
[Side note - he was talking about a technology called Nabla Copilot which takes notes during patient visits, to allow the doctor to focus on the patient and also not have to write up notes afterwards.]
How to scale a FemTech startup in the US in three steps
Legally FemTech’s Bethany Corbin offers valuable advice in Entrepreneur to anyone wanting to scale a FemTech start-up in the US. Her three tips are to a) start your plan for scaling in the US early (due to the complexity of the healthcare and regulatory system) b) scale small initially to test market fit and c) use privacy as a differentiator (this last point was something I covered a few week’s ago on the newsletter).
FemTech Lab accelerator
Speaking of scaling, FemTechLab opened applications for its Autumn accelerator - applications close in July. Find out more and apply here.
And finally…
My favourite story from the week is a feature in Forbes about Dr Lorraine Muluka, co-founder and CEO of Malaica, a Kenyan start-up that connects women with a personal midwife who can then provide guidance throughout their pregnancy. So far, the start-up has 200 women in its program and there’s already evidence that it’s saving lives. It’s a beautiful piece - read it here.