Issue #92 – FemTech Awareness study

Happy FemTech Friday 

It’s been just a month since we launched the global 🎓FemTech Student Ambassador Program, and I’m excited to share insights from our first study in London on FemTech awareness with our ambassador, Saloni Shah and students from Imperial College Business School to explore awareness about FemTech and potential solutions. 

🌟 Here are some key findings: 

• Almost 5 in 10 female students are unaware of the term FemTech. 
• 76% of them expressed a strong interest in learning more about FemTech. 
• 83% of participants use menstrual products such as tampons, period  cups, and pads, while 59% use period trackers. 
• 63% view general women’s health and wellness apps as part of FemTech, followed by menstrual health products, and then sexual health products. 
• Despite progress, 22% of respondents remain unaware of available FemTech solutions. 
• 68.5% prefer to get their FemTech information through social media, online blogs, articles, and podcasts. 
• 51% are keen on attending university events to learn more about FemTech.

Review the full report here – Full Insights  

🎓About the program : The First-Ever Global ”FemTech Student Ambassador Program™ by FemTech India empowering students to advocate for FemTech and bridge the gap between innovation and impact. 

Next up, we’re launching our study with Indian students. Know someone who would love to be part of it? Share this link to apply – https://lnkd.in/gWGpu9Yv

• Novocuff, a Mountain View, CA-based medical device company, raised $26M in Series A funding. The round was led by AXA IM Alts with participation from Laerdal Million Lives Fund, and continued support from existing investors and new investors Laborie, RH Capital, Avestria Ventures and March of Dimes. 
• Briefly Bio, a London, UK-based techbio startup providing a tool to make lab work reproducible, raised $1.2M in funding. The round was led by Compound VC, with participation from NP Hard, and Tiny VC.
• Huma, a London, UK-based global healthcare AI company, raised over $80M in Series D funding.Backers included AstraZeneca, Hat Technology Fund 4 by HAT SGR, HV Fund by Hitachi Ventures and Leaps by Bayer and others.
• Bioniq, a London, UK-based provider of personalized supplements based on blood biomarker data, raised $15M in Series B funding. The round was led by HV Capital and Unbound.
• CatalYm, a Munich, Germany-based company providing immune therapy solutions for solid tumors, raised $150M in Series D funding.The round was led by Canaan Partners and Bioqube Ventures, with participation from Forbion’s Growth Opportunities Fund.

• Ultrahuman Launches App Store ‘PowerPlugs’ Featuring World’s First AFib Detection Technology on a Smart Ring. 
• Women who’ve undergone stem cell treatments for blood cancers, or for illnesses such as sickle cell disease, can successfully bring a pregnancy to term, new research shows.The German findings run counter to the perceived wisdom on this issue: Many such patients are typically told that safe pregnancies are out of the question if they’ve undergone what’s known as “allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation” (alloHCT).
• When it comes to health worries, cancer leads the way, a new poll shows.The University of Cambridge poll included 2,000 adults who said their biggest concern is getting diagnosed with cancer when it’s too late to treat it. Seven in 10 respondents have that fear, while 52% fret about the impact of a cancer diagnosis on loved ones.
• A new report, which called for “urgent” changes in endometriosis care, has said the condition should be taken as seriously as diabetes.The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) report examined the long-standing issues faced by women with endometriosis in the UK.
• An experimental blood test could help detect pregnant women at increased risk for preeclampsia, a serious high blood pressure condition that can harm both mother and child.Researchers report the test looks at genetic markers found in tiny particles called extracellular vesicles that transfer information between human cells.
• Hormone therapy for breast cancer might reduce a woman’s later risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, a new study finds.Overall, hormone therapy is associated with a 7% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s or a related dementia later in life, according to findings published July 16 in the journal JAMA Network Open
• Sleeping long hours one night but only a few hours the next can be unhealthy, with a new study finding “irregular” sleep patterns could be a risk factor for type 2 diabetes.
• Bicycling to work can vastly improve your health and reduce your risk of death, a new study shows.People who bike commute have a 47% lower overall risk of an early death, researchers found. They also are less likely to develop heart disease, cancer and mental health problems, results show.
• Defiance, tantrums, aggression: All signs of a condition called conduct disorder, which Mental Health America says affects up to 16% of boys and 9% of girls.
• Being regular is good for you, a new study shows. Predictable bowel movements could be tied to your long-term health, allowing your body to absorb essential nutrients without producing harmful organ-damaging toxins, researchers found.
• Early exposure to antibiotics might increase a kid’s risk of asthma by altering their gut bacteria, a new mouse study finds. Antibiotics could specifically lower gut production of indole propionic acid (IPA), a biochemical that’s crucial to long-term protection against asthma, researchers reported July 15 in the journal Immunity.
• An experimental drug appears to help women deal with stress incontinence, clinical trial data show.The drug, for now dubbed TAS-303, reduced the frequency of leaks related to stress incontinence by about 58%, compared with 47% reduction in a placebo group, trial results show.

• Lupin on Monday said it has divested the US commercial women’s health specialty business to Evofem Biosciences, a biopharmaceutical company based in the US, which focuses exclusively on women’s health, for an undisclosed sum.This is another move in aligning its US specialty business with a strategic plan to build specialty business in therapeutic areas where we have building blocks of synergy, the company said. These include respiratory and neurological diseases.
• Thrive Global and the OpenAI Startup Fund have announced the creation of Thrive AI Health, a new company dedicated to developing an AI health coach. This venture aims to democratize access to expert health coaching, focusing on chronic disease prevention and health equity.
• Eli Lilly’s Kisunla has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of early symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease. This includes adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and mild dementia stages of the disease. Alzheimer’s disease affects women disproportionately, with nearly two-thirds of Americans diagnosed being women.
• The European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE) has launched the Female Reproductive Genetics Initiative (FeRGI), a project aimed at translating genetic research in infertility into clinical practice. Developed within the Special Interest Group (SIG) Reproductive Genetics, FeRGI focuses on providing resources and training to clinicians and biologists to improve the diagnosis and treatment of female infertility.

• In a new analysis of data, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that taking a daily supplement containing antioxidant vitamins and minerals slows progression of late-stage dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), potentially helping people with late-stage disease preserve their central vision.
• The Union health ministry has come up with a draft notification to prohibit advertisements of drugs specified in Schedule G – including anti-diabetes formulations having metformin, all types of insulin and various oncology drugs – without the prior approval of the Central government.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• Thinking of a Switch Away from Meat? Your Genes May Be Key: Pondering a move to a vegetarian or vegan diet? Your heart might be in it, but your genes might not, a new study says.
• Having Diabetes Raises Risk of Failure With Spinal Fusion Surgery: Diabetes can make lumbar spinal fusion surgery much more likely to fail, a new study says.

See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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