Policy & regulation

Alarming increases in HIV diagnoses among women require urgent government focus, with new cases rising 33 per cent between 2019 and 2024, MPs have warned. Sexual health services are "extremely stretched" with funding "pared to the bone", threatening the UK's ability to meet the United Nations AIDS 2030 zero transmission target, according to the Women [...]

Nearly half of countries lack national policies or clinical guidance for endometriosis care, a new global review has revealed. Endometriosis affects about one in ten women and girls worldwide. Across 194 WHO member states, researchers found striking disparities in care. More than a quarter of countries have no publicly available clinical recommendations, and only 7 [...]

The FDA will remove the menopause drug warning from hormone therapies, citing updated evidence on stroke and heart risks. US health officials said Monday they will drop the boxed warning — the strongest safety alert on a drug label — from more than 20 pills, patches and creams with hormones such as oestrogen and progestin, [...]

By Justyna Strzeszynska, founder of menstrual health platform Joii The Government’s announcement that it will renew the Women’s Health Strategy is, on the surface, good news. The original strategy in 2022 was historic - the first time women’s health had been acknowledged as something that required its own plan. It raised awareness, started [...]

High street clinics offering pregnancy scans could be putting unborn babies and their mothers in danger through a lack of properly trained staff, UK experts warn. Hospital specialists report cases of missed health problems, misdiagnosed conditions and instances where women were wrongly told their babies had died or were malformed. The Society of Radiographers (SoR) [...]

The Women’s Health Ambassador for England, Dame Lesley Regan, has promised to overhaul the government’s 10-year strategy, as she revealed the scale and cost of the UK’s gender health gap three years on. Speaking at Women’s Health Week in London earlier this month, Regan revealed that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has tasked her with “revamping” [...]

The FDA has approved elinzanetant, a new non-hormonal treatment for menopause that reduces hot flushes and night sweats. Clinical trials in the US, Europe and Israel found the drug significantly reduced both the frequency and severity of hot flushes while improving women’s sleep and quality of life. The approval follows successful results from the double-blind [...]

Bayer has received US approval for its non-hormonal drug to relieve hot flushes linked to menopause. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Lynkuet for treating moderate to severe vasomotor symptoms – also known as hot flushes – associated with menopause. The approval was based on three late-stage studies that showed Lynkuet reduced [...]

An independent inquiry will be launched into Leeds maternity services following a parent-led campaign over care failures stretching back 14 years. Health secretary Wes Streeting said he was deeply concerned about problems at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, calling it “a real outlier” for perinatal mortality — deaths around the time of birth — compared [...]

By Xisca Borrás, Partner – Life sciences regulatory and Ellie Handy, Senior Associate – Life sciences regulatory, Bristows As femtech is intrinsically linked to health needs, a key question for femtech products is whether they are regulated as medical devices or merely consumer products. Additionally, many femtech products are embracing the use of artificial intelligence [...]