Issue # 107 – Flo Health Lights Up India This Diwali with the ‘Pass It On Project

✨ This Diwali, we are excited to announce our partnership with Flo Health to launch the Pass It On Project, providing free access for Android users across India! 

As the first Indian company to join the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), this initiative resonates deeply with our mission to improve access to women’s health resources.

We are proud to collaborate with Flo Health, a leader dedicated to empower women with the knowledge they need to understand their bodies, including hormonal patterns, health conditions such as PCOS and endometriosis, fertility, and more. 

As of 2024, this project supports 66 countries and 18 million women worldwide, with India at its heart. 

Women’s health has historically been overlooked, leading to negative health and fertility outcomes. This Diwali, we aim to highlight women’s health and provide innovative solutions to millions of women across the country, enhancing healthcare literacy and promoting gender equity.

The Pass It On Project aims to improve women’s health access , making Diwali—the season of light and hope—the perfect time to inspire meaningful change.

🌼 This Diwali, let’s share a gift that truly matters, Share this message with your friends and family!

Let’s pass on health and happiness together! 

Wishing everyone a Happy Diwali 🪔

• Vara, a Berlin, Germany-based provider of an AI-enabled early breast cancer detection platform, raised $8.9M in funding.The round was led by European family offices Smart Family Office (Austria) and FJH (Germany), as well as Berlin-based healthcare investor IBB Ventures.
• Blue Earth Therapeutics Ltd, an Oxford, UK-based leader in the development of therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, closed a $76.5M Series A financing.
• Definition Health, a London, UK-based, clinician-led HealthTech company, raised £5.75m in pre-seed funding.
• Ataraxis AI, a NYC-based AI precision medicine company, raised $4M in Seed funding.
• SynOx Therapeutics, a Dublin, Ireland- and Oxford, UK-based late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing a novel treatment for CSF-1 related and macrophage-driven disorders, raised additional funding in Series B round.
• Nuuron, a Berlin, Germany-based neurotech startup, raised €3.5M in Seed funding.

• Women who enter menopause at a later age have a greater risk of asthma, a new study says. Meanwhile, early menopause is associated with a reduced risk of developing asthma, researchers found. The results run counter to other studies suggesting that early menopause, defined as ages 40 to 44, is more detrimental to a woman’s health, increasing her risk of heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and depression, the researchers noted.
• Pancreatic cancer rates are rising in adults younger than 50, but many continue to believe it’s a disease that only affects the elderly, a new survey shows.
• Here’s another good reason to help your child reach and maintain a healthy weight: A new study warns that kids who are either too skinny or too fat are at risk for impaired lung function. However, if their weight can be normalized before they reach adulthood, this impairment can be offset, results showed.
• Artificial intelligence might be able to help doctors detect the prostate cancers most likely to be life-threatening to men, a new study suggests. An AI program successfully identified and outlined 85% of the most aggressive prostate tumors seen on MRI scans of more than 700 patients, researchers said.
• Middle-aged folks facing a colon cancer screening now have a blood test they can choose over a standard colonoscopy. However, the blood test isn’t as effective as colonoscopy at detecting and preventing colon cancer, a new review finds.About two and a half times more colon cancer deaths can be expected to occur in people taking the blood test every three years as recommended, compared to those who undergo colonoscopy once a decade.
• Constipation might increase a person’s risk of having a heart attack or stroke, particularly if they also have high blood pressure, a new study warns.People who are constipated have twice the risk of a major heart health problem compared to those with normal bowel habits, researchers report.
• A heart-pounding workout suppresses a person’s hunger levels better than less strenuous exercises like a brisk walk or active yoga, a new study shows. Running, swimming laps or taking a fast-paced spin class is more effective in suppressing the hunger hormone ghrelin than less intense exercise, researchers report.
• Scans using lasers and ultrasound can pick up signs of a malaria infection through the skin, without the need for a blood draw, Yale researchers report. The technology, called Cytophone, could be a real boon for developing countries where access to labs for blood tests isn’t always available.
• Big surges in new autism diagnoses among young adults, as well a rise in diagnoses for girls and young women, have driven a near-tripling of U.S. autism cases in just over a decade, researchers report. Data on over 12 million patients enrolled in major U.S. health care systems found that between 2011 and 2022 the number of people diagnosed with autism climbed by 175%, according to a study published Oct. 30 in the journal JAMA Network Open.
• Smoking marijuana during pregnancy may quell your morning sickness, but it could also harm your child’s development, a new study warns.Cannabis exposure in the womb is associated in early childhood with poorer thinking skills, researchers reported Oct. 28 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics.
• Replacing people’s heart valves before they experienced any side effects or symptoms halved their risk of being hospitalized for heart problems for at least two years, the trial found. More specifically, death occurred in 8.4% of the patients assigned to early surgery and in 9.2% of the patients on clinical surveillance, while stroke occurred in 4.2% and 6.7%, respectively, and unplanned hospitalization for cardiovascular causes occurred in 20.9% and 41.7%, respectively.
• A new guidance issued jointly by groups representing U.S. surgeons, anesthesiologists and gastroenterologists affirms that most people taking popular GLP-1 weight-loss meds can keep taking them in the weeks before a surgery. Concerns had arisen because the drugs, which include semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound), liraglutide (Saxenda) and dulaglutide (Trulicity), can all delay stomach emptying.
• Half of young Americans between the ages of 12 and 17 spend at least four hours each day on their smartphones, computers or televisions, a new survey shows.

• Swiss startup OncoGenomX, a leader in predictive tumour analytics, has announced a new clinical trial collaboration with researchers of two US Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Centers.
• Lindus Health has launched its “All-in-One Women’s Health CRO” offering of contract research organisation (CRO) and technology solutions bespoke to running clinical trials for women’s health products.
• Clue, the menstrual and reproductive health tracking app, has announced the results of the largest study to date, examining the relationship between gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, mood and the menstrual cycle.
• Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), a nonprofit research institute dedicated to protecting the global community from infectious diseases, has entered a global partnership with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). The five-year agreement will see the Institute join CEPI’s specialized preclinical network totalling 16 laboratories worldwide.
• Led by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, the new study provides important insights into the complex link between GI and mood symptoms across the menstrual cycle, particularly for individuals with premenstrual syndrome (PMS).
•  WHO and partners, in collaboration with Member States, activated the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) for the first time to provide support to countries facing mpox outbreaks.
• Valanx Biotech, a biotech company developing novel technology for site-specific protein conjugation in drug and diagnostics discovery, and Fina Biosolutions LLC (FinaBio), experts in conjugate vaccine development and conjugate chemistry, announced the signing of a joint IP and licensing agreement.
• Merck, a leading science and technology company, announced a €70 million expansion of its ADC manufacturing capabilities and capacity at its Bioconjugation Center of Excellence facility in St. Louis, Missouri, USA.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has initiated multiple projects amounting to more than Rs. 12,855 crore including projects worth more than Rs. 5,187 crore under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Rs. 5,502 crore under the ministry of health and family welfare, Rs. 1,641 crore under ESIC, and Rs. 525.14 crore under the Ministry of Ayush.
• The Ayush manufacturing sector in the country has reported an 8-fold growth in 10 years, from $3 billion in 2014 to nearly $24 billion now, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Inaugurating the 9th Ayurveda Day at an event at All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, on the occasion of Dhanvatari Jayanti, he added that over 900 Ayush start-ups are now operational in India, creating new opportunities for the youth.
• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has directed all manufacturers and marketing companies selling the three anti-cancer drugs that were exempted from customs duty and Goods and Services Tax (GST) earlier this year, to revise the maximum retail price (MRP) of these drugs and submit the details regarding the revision with the regulators.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Even ‘Weekend Warrior’ Exercise Can Keep Your Brain Healthy: Find it hard to take time to exercise during your busy workweek?No problem, a new study says — one or two “weekend warrior” workouts are just as likely to help you maintain your brain health.
• Childhood Attention Issues Show Links to Later Risk for Psychosis, Schizophrenia: Most kids with attention issues won’t go on to develop serious psychiatric conditions like psychosis or schizophrenia.

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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