Tricog Health, a heart-focused healthtech startup based in Bengaluru has secured $8.5 Mn in a Series B2 funding round from investors including Omron Health Care and Sony Innovation Fund. Omcron Health Care and Sony Innovation Fund are joining the Tricog captable, while several existing investors returned in the funding round

Perci Health, an online platform that helps people access multidisciplinary, supportive care throughout their cancer journey, has raised £3.4m in seed funding led by Octopus Ventures.

MilkMate, a New York-based company dedicated to supporting and empowering working mothers and the employers who support them, has announced that its breast pump and parts for its new turnkey breast pumping solution have been cleared for market by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The MilkMate solution is entering a soft launch phase with a select group of early adopters before its formal launch in the greater Manhattan market this summer.

• Essitya, a hygiene and health company has created a virtual world on an online video game. The project encourages boys, girls, and parents to have a space in metaverse where stigmas and taboos around menstruation are removed through edutainment.
• A report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) has found one in six people around the world experience infertility – The proportion of adults affected by infertility during their lives is 17.8% in high-income countries and 16.5% in low and middle-income ones.
• Amazon Web Services (AWS) wants to increase investments in the Indian market – The “Digital India” wave spiralling after the launch of government’s National Digital Health Mission, also known as Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM), seems to be key reason behind why AWS is showing a heightened interest in the burgeoning Indian tech market.
• National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (Nimhans) and Ashraya Hastha Trust (AHT) signed an MoU to implement a model comprehensive rural mental health programme NAMAN (Nimhans-AHT Comprehensive Mental-Health Action Program for Rural Communities).
• Researchers at the University of So Paulo (USP) in Brazil said that preliminary findings from the model suggested the possibility of detecting the likelihood of a person developing depression based solely on their social media friends and followers.
• Time-restricted fasting, an eating pattern whereby people limit their food consumption to certain hours of the day, could cause fertility problems, according to a new research.

• Vodafone has teamed up with the Wales women’s Rugby team to track and research how the menstrual cycle impacts performance, wellbeing and recovery.Vodafone, who is a founding principal partner of Wales Women’s and Girls rugby, has added menstrual cycle tracking to their PLAYER. Connect platform, which aggregates data from athletes’ wearable devices.
• Luxury wellness brand OTO has acquired UK-based South West Brands, the company behind female wellness brand FEWE, and LoveMeMeMe, a Gen-Z beauty brand. The two companies are joining forces to create the newly formed OTO Group, a new female-founded global CPG group of lifestyle brands.
• Axia Women’s Health, one of the largest independent women’s healthcare groups in the US, has partnered with Cayaba Care, a holistic maternity support program, to address health inequities and improve maternal health outcomes in Black and Brown communities.
• The Swiss pharma company Ferring and the BioInnovation Institute have entered a strategic collaboration to accelerate innovation in women’s health.BioInnovation Institute Foundation (BII) and Ferring have expanded their collaboration with the objective to advance life science innovation within women’s health.

• Deep  Bajaj, CEO of Sirona hosted a talk about empowering women’s health and hygiene along with Amazon Global Selling.
• Gytree launched its perimenopause and menopause online clinic.
• FemiSafe was selected from over 6000 startups to be a part of the Leap to Unicorn Initiative by IDFC First Bank in association with Money Control and CNBC TV18.

• Practo became the first digital healthcare company to be accredited by QAI.
• Drone tech startup, TSAW Drones has announced a strategic partnership with Kanhaiya Life Care Medicine to initiate a first-of-its-kind B2C medicine drone delivery service in Kolkata. The vision behind the collaboration is to provide swift and efficient delivery of medicines to patients at their doorsteps while also cutting down on the delays caused by road traffic.
• ReadyGo Diagnostics Ltd. (ReadyGo), a specialist in isothermal molecular diagnostics, announced that it has entered into an assay development agreement with Gemina Laboratories Ltd. (Gemina), a Canadian company that specialises in fast, affordable and accurate diagnostic tests
• Everest Medicines, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and commercialization of innovative medicines and vaccines, announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a strategic partnership with a subsidiary of Shanghai Pharma, SPH Keyuan Xinhua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (SPH Kyuan).

•  The pharmaceutical exports from the country have seen a growth of 3.25% per cent at $25.39 billion during the year 2022-23, as compared to $24.59 billion in the previous fiscal year.The exports during the year, however, have registered a higher percentage of growth compared to the less than one per cent growth in the previous fiscal year.
• Indian pharma companies have set their eyes on the promising growth prospects emerging in phytopharmaceuticals sector even as the Union government through the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has set up a dedicated monitoring committee. This is specifically for the CSIR Mission Mode project on Phytopharmaceutical Mission Phase III.
• The Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) is organising India Pavilion in Belarussian Healthcare/Belarus Medica from May 23 to 26, 2023 at Minsk, Belarus to boost exports. The Belarus Medica (Belarus Medical International Specialized Exhibition) is the country’s main fair in the field of medicine and healthcare.

• Researchers have identified a gene in multiple mammalian species that could pave the way for a highly effective, reversible and non-hormonal male contraceptive for humans and animals. The team at Washington State University (WSU) in the US identified expression of the gene, Arrdc5, in the testes of mice, pigs, cattle and humans. When they knocked out the gene in mice, it created infertility only in the males, impacting their sperm count, movement and shape.
• Poor diet contributed to over 14.1 million cases of type 2 2 diabetes in 2018, representing over 70 per cent of new diagnoses globally, according to a study.Of the 30 most populated countries studied, India, Nigeria, and Ethiopia had the fewest case of type 2 diabetes related to unhealthy eating, the researchers said.
• Scientists at IIT-Madras have developed an easy-to-use screening device for reliable assessment of blood vessel health. The device which has already been extensively field-tested on more than 5,000 human subjects can provide early warnings for future cardiovascular diseases.