Issue # 151 – Actress Samantha Ruth co-founds ZOY , Reveal HealthTech raises $7.2M, Amgen to invest $600M in R&D

✨Hey there! You’re reading the free edition of the FemTech India newsletter — your go-to source for the latest in women’s health, industry updates, and opportunities to help you navigate what’s next in your journey.

• Indian actress Samantha Ruth Prabhu has invested in and co-founded ZOY, a menstrual and feminine health brand, marking her entry into the wellness sector.
• Reveal HealthTech, a specialized AI transformation partner for US healthcare and life-sciences companies has received its $7.2 million Series A round led by Leo Capital with participation from Sanos Capital.
• Amgen is investing $600 million to establish a new research and development site in Thousand Oaks, California, a move the company says will create hundreds of U.S. jobs. The announcement was made on September 2.
• Newcastle University has been awarded a further £22 million by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) to continue its research to identify emerging medicines, diagnostics, devices and digital technologies that have the potential to transform care, reduce inequalities and support a more responsive and resilient system. 
• Congruence Therapeutics, a Montreal, Canada-based computationally-driven biotechnology company, raised $32M in funding.
• Enveda, a Boulder, CO-based clinical-stage biotech company, raised $150M in Series D funding.
  
  Cyted Health, a Cambridge, UK-based gastrointestinal (GI) molecular diagnostics company, raised USD44M in Series B funding.
• UK-based diagnostics company Salient Bio has closed a £2.35 million seed funding round led by THENA Capital to support the commercial launch of its microbiome-based diagnostic test for Inflammatory Bowel Disease.
• Lapee, the Copenhagen-based sanitation startup known for its viral pink urinals for women and gender non-conforming people who squat to pee, has secured €800k in investment and launched an equity crowdfunding campaign to invite its global community to become co-owners.
• Charm Therapeutics, a London, UK-based biotechnology company which specializes in precision oncology treatments, raised $80M in Series B funding.
• EnsiliTech, a Bristol, UK-based biotechnology startup, raised £4.5M in Seed funding. The funding will accelerate proof-of-concept uptake for existing and novel biopharmaceuticals by increasing throughput with new hires, and enhanced infrastructure capabilities.

• An NIHR-funded study led by researchers at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust has shown that patients examined with the stethoscope were:
  • twice as likely to be diagnosed with heart failure
  • about 3.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation – an abnormal heart rhythm which can increase the risk of having a stroke
  • almost twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of heart valve disease – where 1 or more heart valves do not work properly
• A new study has found hsCRP—a marker of inflammation—can help identify women who are at risk of heart attacks and strokes but are missed by current screening algorithms. Cardiologists have long known that up to half of all heart attacks and strokes occur among apparently healthy individuals who do not smoke and do not have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or diabetes, the “standard modifiable risk factors” which doctors often call “SMuRFs.”
• Women treated with beta blockers had a higher risk of death, heart attack or hospitalisation for heart failure compared to women not receiving the drug, a recent study found. Men, meanwhile, did not face this increased risk, the study showed.
• Hormonal contraceptives appear to shape how women experience emotions in the moment and how they remember emotional events later, new research has found. In the study, researchers compared women using hormonal contraceptives with women who were naturally cycling.
• Nearly one in 12 women going through menopause report workplace discrimination, with many leaving careers or missing promotions, international research shows. The study of 13,800 workers across six countries found more than a third faced negative workplace impacts, ranging from reduced productivity to fear of telling colleagues.
• Better detection and management of malnutrition and muscle loss could improve treatment results for women with ovarian cancer, new research has found. The study involved a 24-item survey of 57 healthcare professionals across Australia, looking at awareness of nutrition issues, screening practices and barriers to support at diagnosis, during treatment and after treatment.
• All young children in the UK will be offered a free chickenpox vaccine by the NHS from January next year. It will be given as two doses, at 12 and 18 months of age, combined with the existing MMR jab which protects against measles, mumps and rubella.
• Australia could use a range of technologies to implement its social media ban for under-16s but all have risks or shortcomings, a report has found. The government says its ban, which comes into effect in December, is designed to limit the harmful impacts of social media. The policy has been touted as a world-first and is being watched closely by leaders globally.
• Experts warn weight-loss jabs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro could worsen bone health in menopausal women already at risk of osteoporosis.

• Remedy Meds, LLC, a consumer virtual-care and pharmacy platform, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Thirty Madison, Inc. (“Thirty Madison”). The transaction creates a larger, multi-brand platform across women’s, men’s, and metabolic health. The transaction, which is valued just north of $500M, will be funded through an all-stock deal. Closing is expected in Q4 2025, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory review.
• Fischer Medical Ventures’ sister concern Nanyang Biologics (NYB) enters a strategic collaboration with Nvidia, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), and Equinix to build Vecura—an AI-powered drug discovery platform that combines advanced predictive models with a proprietary library of millions of natural compounds.
• Zydus Lifesciences Ltd., a global innovation led healthcare company, announced the launch of its trivalent influenza (Flu) vaccine VaxiFlu introduced for the first time in India, aligning with the global recommendations of WHO
• Fairtility, a global leader in transparent AI for reproductive care, today announced that its CHLOE platform has achieved U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 510(k) clearance for one of its AI-powered embryo assessment tools, CHLOE Blast™, making it the first and only FDA-cleared machine learning AI-powered clinical decision support software for embryo assessment.

• GE HealthCare has launched the Vivid Pioneer, a new cardiovascular ultrasound system designed to enhance imaging speed and quality through artificial intelligence.
• The George Institute for Global Health has unveiled an online calculator that predicts how much common blood pressure medications and their combinations will lower systolic blood pressure, following one of the largest analyses of antihypertensive drug trials to date.
• Google has launched the Pixel Watch 4, described as the most significant update to the Pixel Watch line to date, with a stronger emphasis on health and fitness features.
• OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is stepping into the healthcare space with fresh leadership appointments and a shift in strategy.
• Reliance Industries has named digital health, life sciences, and genomics among its new expansion frontiers while announcing a Google Cloud region at Jamnagar.

• The National Health Authority (NHA) is seeking INR 2,000 Cr to extend the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) until 2030.
• The Union ministry of health and family welfare has included the Assam Medical College & Hospital, Dibrugarh as a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for rare diseases under the National Policy for Rare Diseases (NPRD), 2021.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) have released draft standard protocols for the evaluation of in-vitro diagnostics (IVDs). These protocols specifically target diagnostic technologies used for pulmonary tuberculosis and drug-resistant tuberculosis.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Fibroids in the uterus: What every woman in her 20s, 30s, and 40s should know: Early detection, combined with lifestyle interventions and timely medical management, is crucial for improving health, preserving fertility, and enhancing well-being.
• Best exercise to fight insomnia: Exercise for sleep, particularly yoga, Tai Chi, and walking or jogging, has been identified as highly effective in improving sleep quality and alleviating insomnia symptoms, based on new research
• Intermittent fasting: Is the popular diet trend harming your heart? Intermittent fasting, a widely adopted lifestyle trend promoted for its benefits in focus and weight management, faces new scrutiny as a study reveals a significant association with increased cardiovascular mortality

🎉Have news to share? Publish a press release on FemTech India to reach industry-leading executives, investors, and passionate individuals.

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

[Sign up here to never miss on the latest updates.]