Issue 16: Will FemTech do a 'Monzo', outsized returns for menopause investors, the first pill for postpartum depression
+ more in your weekly women's health innovation & FemTech news
Hi! Welcome to issue #16 of FutureFemHealth, here to bring you your weekly news about women’s health innovation and FemTech (w/c 30 July 2023). A special hello to the 91 people who have subscribed since last week - great to have you here!
🌟 Coming up today we’ve got:
🏆 Could one of FemTech’s menopause and fertility start-ups evolve into a ‘Monzo’ for private healthcare?
📌 Why investors need to take note of menopause
💊 The first pill for postpartum depression makes the front page of the New York Times
🔥 Plus lots more including: $2.68m seed funding for pelvic device Pelvital, FDA clearance for a new fibroid mapping tool, and the at-home Alzheimer’s diagnostic now on sale for $399.
Got news to share from the world of FemTech and women’s health innovation? Let me know at anna@futurefemhealth.com
But first…
📦 We’re running out of room
More demand for IVF and better success rates have created one perhaps unforeseen result… lots embryos and nowhere to store them.
Last week me and my husband got our renewal bill for the five embryos we have in storage at our IVF clinic (remaining, thankfully after we had two children).
Even though the annual charge we now face is £300 and we’re unlikely to have more children, we can’t confront the decision of what to do with those embryos that we once longed- and hoped-for so badly.
So, we paid the £300, kept the embryos in storage and kicked the decision down the road for another year.
Well, it turns out we’re not the only ones.
A piece in The Sunday Times Magazine highlighted that a record 100,000 embryos are now in storage - up from 50,000 a year in the mid-2000s.
Space is running out to store them in fertility clinics, and now that the time limit for storing embryos, eggs and sperm has increased from 10 to 55 years (as of July 2022), that’s likely to only become more of an issue.
The solution? Perhaps out-of-town storage or artificial Intelligence. Current storage options are bulky and not space efficient, whereas new tanks use AI to track, monitor and robotically retrieve samples. Because the AI knows exactly where each sample is, embryos can be stored much more densely as there is a low risk of vapour escaping during retrieval and damaging them.
But also - there really needs to be a better solution for what to do with surplus embryos. You see, I’ve always had in the back of my mind that we would donate our embryos to medical research when the time came. Yet currently the onus is on us and our clinic to find a specific project to donate to. We aren’t able to donate embryos ‘to research’ more generally. Thankfully, that may change in due course - a consultation took place earlier this year by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to change this, with proposals due later this year.
🗞️ Headlines
🏆 Will FemTech serve up a ‘Monzo’ for UK private healthcare?
The clear trend of employee-funded health and wellness benefits shows no sign of stopping and reproductive health and menopause is at the forefront of this. But could there be a bigger opportunity for FemTech in this space, that might also mean taking on the biggest giants in private healthcare too and creating a new model altogether? (Continue reading: FutureFemHealth on LinkedIn)
📌 Want outsized returns? Invest in menopause products.
With 1.6 billion women globally likely to be in menopause by 2030 and a shortage of dedicated products and services, menopause is one industry that all investors should consider. Hear hear! (Continue reading: Entrepreneur)
💊 First pill for postpartum depression approved by FDA for sale later this year.
Avoiding the need for the current treatment of injection, this new pill is shown to work in as little as two weeks. The groundbreaking news even made it to the front page of The New York Times. Although many have pointed out that users are advised not to drive for 12 hours after taking a pill, which could be an issue. (Continue reading: BBC)
🌟 More news from this week
📌 USA: Pelvital’s Flyte, a device for stress urinary incontinence and weakened pelvic floor, raises $2.68m in seed funding. I’m seeing lots of innovative ideas for improving pelvic health right now - from supplements, to devices, to self-led programmes. This product from Pelvital, when paired with an active pelvic floor contraction, aims to stimulate tissue repair and create better muscle memory. (Continue reading: FinsMes)
📌 INDIA: Nesa Medtech’s fibroid mapping tool has received FDA clearance to be sold. This tool makes it easier for doctors to work out the size and location of fibroids by generating a 3D visual. That allows for more minimally invasive treatment options and better recovery. (Continue reading: Medicaldevice-network.com)
📌 USA: An at-home diagnostic for Alzheimers? Clinical testing giant Quest is selling a blood test designed to help gauge a person’s levels of beta amyloid (that’s one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s) and consumers can now buy it on its website for $399. (Continue reading: Fiercebiotech)
📌 USA: Virtual menopause clinic’s Gennev and Midi Health are joining with fertility benefits company Progyny to introduce workplace support for menopausal symptoms. This partnership combines Gennev and Midi Health’s menopause expertise with Progyny’s client base of employers. Gennev boldy promises employers that they will see an “upwards of 71% cost savings in healthcare cost per person experiencing menopause” (Continue reading: Gennev)
📌 GLOBAL: Virtual clinic Maven just secured Amazon as a new client in 50 countries outside the US and Canada. What I like about this is all Amazon employees are eligible to access Maven’s fertility and family building services, whether they’re full-time, part-time or even hourly. (Continue reading: Mobihealth News)
📌 UK: Public Cervix Announcement: An Interview with Hertility Health. Am I the only one that can’t seem to go onto instagram without seeing an ad for the at-home hormone and fertility testing kit from Hertility? I enjoyed this interview with its founder Dr Helen O’Neill about demand for their products, how they partner with employers and Hertility’s ambition to be the home of women’s health. (Continue reading: Maddyness)
📌 USA: Could a wearable device help detect breast cancer at home? This wearable ultrasound patch still needs clinical trials, but could ultimately help improve access to early diagnosis of breast cancer, which can give the best chance of survival. (Continue reading: Medical News Today)
📌 USA: Menopause is having a moment. You might have seen writer Susan Dominus’ article about menopause that went viral in the NYTimes earlier this year. Now she’s back with a podcast and follow-up article. (Continue reading: The New York Times)
📌 UK: Anxious millennials are worried about their fertility. There’s been a big increase in egg freezing over the last few years. Plus sales for ovulation test strips at Boots have increased by 35 per cent year-on-year, coupled with a surge in at-home hormone and fertility tests. But, says this article, if 84% of couples still conceive naturally within a year, is there a need to be so worried? (Continue reading: i news)
📌 KENYA: Meta, Google and YouTube are ‘profiting’ off posts for bogus women’s health cures in Kenya. In a ridiculous turn of events, it seems that while all of us are out here trying to get Meta to stop censoring women’s health content - they are quite happy to profit from ads for potentially harmful products including vaginal ‘cleanse’ balls and useless herbs for infertility, according to an investigation by media collective Fumbua. (Continue reading: The Guardian)
📌 GLOBAL: Is FemTech in app overload? Founder Lauren Hanson argues that app overload is one of several obstacles she’s observed in FemTech. A thought-provokingn read. (Continue reading: Lauren Hanson on LinkedIn)
🌟 Latest resources
Want to improve your design UX? Apply for sponsorship from product and design experts Guidea and their dedicated FemTech UX program Femovate. So far, 30 FemTech start-ups have been sponsored! (Apply before 18 September 2023: Femovate)
🩸 Research and women’s health news
📌 Giving birth in America can be deadly - and the maternity care ‘desert’ in the US is getting worse One in 12 women now live with little to no access to maternity care services. About 300 birthing units have closed in the US since non-profit March of Dimes first started tracking in 2018, including about 70 losses in the past year. Separately, a new report from non-profit The Milken Institute also found giving birth in America can be more deadly than in other developed countries - with more confirmation of racial disparities, especially for Black women. (Continue reading: March of Dimes and The Milken Institute)
📊 Unveiling the impact of menopause in the workplace. 8,000 women globally were surveyed for a new survey from Korn Ferry and Vira Health. While 47% said their work performance was disrupted by perimenopause and menopause-related symptoms - there are some silver-linings too. (Continue reading: Korn Ferry)
📌 Women who experience infertility may be at a higher risk of menopausal symptoms. Research now suggests these women may benefit from early screening for mood and sleep disorders. (Continue reading: Everyday health)
📌 Artificial Intelligence is safe to use in mammography screenings, says new study from Sweden. Breast cancer detection rates were similar to those found manually by clinicians, although false positives were the same. (Continue reading: Lund University)
📌 AthenaDAO is decentralised collective working on transformative women’s health research. They’ve already launched a reproductive health report and have now opened applications for research projects on endometriosis and PCOS. (Join an information session this week to find out more about getting involved: AthenaDao)
📄 Govt & policy news
📌 UK: The Government’s false promise to fertility patients. Last week we shared news of the UK Government’s new IVF NHS tool, announced as part of the one-year update on the Women’s Health Strategy for England. Much celebrated, unfortunately it turns out that, well, it’s a bit rubbish, as discovered by charity Progress Educational Trust. The postcode lottery of access to NHS IVF is also very much still an issue. (Continue reading: Progress Educational Trust)
✅ Campaign of the week
Let’s get rid of the tax on period pants.
In the UK, period underwear is still not classed as a menstrual product which means a 20% VAT charge on every pair. This is despite the Government removing VAT from some menstrual products like pads, tampons & cups in 2021.
Now, one period pant maker, Wuka, has opened a petition for change (and they pledge to pass on any savings from the policy change to customers). Sign it before the October deadline here.
That’s all for this week! If you got this far - thank you!
See you next time,
Anna