Issue #91 – Member of UNFPA Gender Equity Alliance 2030

Happy FemTech Friday 

Last year, we launched the first-ever FemTech book, “Women’s Health Innovation,” spotlighting stories of leaders across women’s health, technology, and investment domains. 

We are proud that our book, “Women’s Health Innovation,” has been acknowledged and supported by the UNFPA, highlighting our commitment to promoting gender equity and innovation in women’s health.  

Exciting news! We’re thrilled to announce our participation in the UNFPA Gender Equity Alliance 2030 as a Member, furthering our efforts to strengthen the ecosystem and promote gender equity.

Additionally, UNFPA has acknowledged our actions in conducting the first-ever largest women’s health study in India, which identifies critical unmet needs and opportunities for advancements in women’s health and FemTech. Our collective efforts will support the development of impactful health solutions for women’s health in India and other South Asian countries, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan, thereby empowering companies in this sector. 

We are grateful for this opportunity to strengthen our ecosystem and contribute to an inclusive, sustainable, and gender-equitable future, where the voices of women and girls are heard.  

If you would like to know more and want to participate in our mission, Join here 

Interested in discovering more about the book, Explore here

• Heartbeat Health, a NYC-based cardiovascular care company, received a growth investment by Cressey & Company. Existing investors including .406 Ventures, Echo Ventures, Kindred Ventures and Optum Ventures, invested alongside Cressey.
• Beacon Therapeutics, a London, UK-based ophthalmic gene therapy company, raised $170M in Series B funding.The round, which brought the total amount to $290M, was led by Forbion.
• HepaRegeniX, a Tuebingen, Germany-based clinical stage company developing a novel regenerative therapy for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases, raised €15M in Series C funding.
• Heidelberg Epignostix, a Heidelberg, Germany-based precision cancer diagnostics startup, raised €4.3M in Seed funding.The round was led by CARMA FUND I Capital GmbH & Co KG, with participation from High-Tech Gründerfonds, LBBW Venture Capital GmbH and Start-up BW Seed Fonds.
• The US mental health tech start-up INVI MindHealth has raised US$1.5m to advance digital mental health solutions. INVI MindHealth aims to “revolutionise” mental healthcare by using predictive analytics to detect decreases in mental wellbeing.

• Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM) prior to the retrieval of oocytes during IVF can reduce the odds of achieving a live birth by almost 40 per cent, new research has shown. 
• A new urine test might help doctors more easily screen for cervical cancer, researchers report.The test looks for proteins generated by a type of cancer-causing human papillomavirus, HPV 16. HPV strains 16 and 18 are responsible for nearly all cervical cancers, according to the National Cancer Institute.
• Women who survive cardiac arrest are more likely to suffer anxiety or depression than male survivors, a new study warns.Data regarding the five-year health consequences of a cardiac arrest revealed “most significantly a 50% rise in antidepressant prescription in the first year among women that was not mirrored in men,” said researcher Robin Smits, a doctoral student at Amsterdam University Medical Center. After five years, this rise tapered off to a roughly 20% increase in prescriptions.
• Expectant mothers who get vaccinated to protect their newborns against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are not putting themselves or their babies at risk, new research affirms.It found that getting the shot during late pregnancy was not associated with increased odds of preterm birth or other outcomes.
• A newly discovered hormone could help fight osteoporosis and quickly heal broken bones, researchers say. The research team identified Maternal Brain Hormone while trying to figure out why the bones of breastfeeding women remain relatively strong, even as calcium is stripped from the bones to support milk production.
• Osteoarthritis could nearly triple a person’s risk of developing a multitude of other chronic illnesses, a new two-decade study finds. People with osteoarthritis (OA) — where cartilage breaks down, allowing bones to rub against each other — tend to develop multiple other health problems as the years progress, researchers found.
• Prediabetes can be successfully fought through diet and exercise, a new study shows. People with prediabetes can reduce their long-term risk of death and illness if they use diet and exercise to delay the onset of diabetes for just four years, according to findings published July 9 in the journal PLOS Medicine.
• New research offers what could become a surprising way to diagnose whether a child has autism: Simply check the makeup of their gut microbiome.In a study published July 8 in the journal Nature Microbiology, scientists analyzed more than 1,600 stool samples from children ages 1 to 13 and found several distinct biological “markers” in the samples of children with autism. 
• Two years after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, more Americans think their state should allow a woman to get a legal abortion for any reason, a new poll finds.Just over 6 in 10 of those questioned say women should have that right, compared to just under 50% of Americans who held the same belief in 2021, the new survey from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found.
• People with an “unhealthy” gut microbiome appear to be more likely to die following an organ transplant, a new study warns.These gut microbe patterns are specifically associated with deaths from cancer and infection, regardless of the organ that’s been transplanted, researchers reported recently in the journal Gut.
• A new international simulation projects cutting Americans’ intake of processed meat alone by 30% could head off more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the United States over 10 years, along with 92,500 cases of heart disease and 53,300 cases of colon cancer
• Millions of women in the US have missed screenings for serious, often life-threatening conditions, a new survey has found. The study, commissioned by the medtech company Hologic, has revealed a vast “screening action gap”.

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• Healthfab was awarded a patent for “Absorbable Undergarments for Women”
• Menoveda published a listicle on “Surprising changes in your late 30s: What to look out for” covering aspects of lesser-known perimenopause symptoms.
• Dr Geetha Manjunath was featured at the #HerStory Technology Leader Conclave 2024,which was conducted by Yourstory

• Accuhealth is a Tampa, FL-based healthcare technology company offering comprehensive remote patient monitoring (“RPM”) and chronic care management (“CCM”) solutions encompassing hardware, proprietary software and clinical monitoring, to physician practices and health systems throughout the United States.
• MedPharm, a Guildford, UK-based topical and transdermal Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) and Ampersand Capital Partners portfolio company, announced a merger with Tergus Pharma, a Research Triangle Park, NC-based end-to-end contract service provider and a Great Point Partners portfolio company.
• Cleveland Clinic has expanded its TeamBirth model, a unique labour and delivery programme, citing higher patient satisfaction and a reduction in C-section rates.TeamBirth is a shared decision-making model that focuses on improving communication between caregivers and pregnant patients to bolster safety and quality of care.

• Karnataka is facing a concerning rise in dengue cases, prompting the state government to urge the Union government to expedite the approval and availability of dengue vaccines in a time-bound manner.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) is organizing a five-day national workshop on “Approaches and Methods to Measure Oxidative Stress in Pre-Clinical Mouse Model” at the ICMR-National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) in Ahmedabad.
• The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has framed regulations on the manner of conducting enquiry imposing penalty and appeal procedures in case of violation of certain provisions of the Pharmacy Act, 1948, in tune with the amendments notified in the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023.

• 📳 – Quick Reads:  How cell and gene therapies revolutionising cancer care in India. These treatments are becoming increasingly effective, affordable, and accessible
• 📺 – Show – WHAT THE HEALTH
  

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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