News

The war in Gaza has undermined maternal health and caused a surge in preventable deaths among pregnant women and newborns, a report finds. The research documents widespread malnutrition, destroyed services and restrictions on food and medical supplies that clinicians say have devastated women’s ability to conceive, carry and give birth safely. The report was produced [...]

Merck has launched a MENA femtech accelerator with Qatar Science & Technology Park to back startups improving women's health. The QSTP x Merck FemTech Accelerator aims to identify and support up to 30 startups developing solutions across women's health, with a focus on innovations powered by artificial intelligence, robotics and materials science. Selected companies will [...]

Chemotherapy may reduce ovarian function and fertility in women, a recent study suggests. The research examined how cancer treatment affects ovarian tissue, hormone production and ovarian reserve (the egg supply available for reproduction). The authors found that some chemotherapy drugs can trigger oxidative stress (cell damage from unstable molecules) and apoptosis (programmed cell death) in [...]

Almost 10 years after the term ‘femtech’ was coined, is the sector on the brink of its biggest transformation yet? In 2026, experts say women’s health will finally shift from basic tracking to measurable biomarkers, AI-enabled personalisation and deeply women-centred care. We take a look at the trends set to define femtech next year. A [...]

The Magtrace lymphatic tracer has become the latest Endomag device to receive EU Medical Device Regulation (EU MDR) certification, marking the final step in securing approval across the full Endomag surgical platform. This announcement follows the approval of the Magseed marker in October 2025, meaning that all technologies across the Sentimag portfolio have now been [...]

Higher maternal blood pressure is linked to more pregnancy complications, a large genetic study of over 700,000 pregnant women has found. Helping women to keep their blood pressure at normal levels could reduce their risk of experiencing pregnancy complications, the researchers concluded. Fernanda Morales-Berstein is research associate and lead author. Morales-Berstein said: "Our [...]

Breastfeeding is linked to lower anxiety and depression over 10 years, a recent study suggests. The research followed 168 women from a Dublin maternity hospital, finding that those who had breastfed at some point were less likely to experience mental health problems at the 10-year follow-up. Depression or anxiety was reported by 13.1 per cent [...]

Researchers have identified a potential treatment target for triple-negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form of breast cancer. The study found that PUF60 helps cancer cells grow and survive by controlling how key genes are spliced (the editing of genetic instructions before proteins are made). In models of triple-negative breast cancer, disrupting PUF60 caused widespread [...]

Xella Health has closed more than US$3.7m in pre-seed financing as it prepares to launch a women's precision health platform in spring 2026. The company, which says it is approaching a 10,000-person waitlist, combines multi-omic diagnostics, longitudinal data (tracked over time) and clinician-led guidance to help women understand their biology across fertility, hormonal health, chronic [...]

Police-related stress is linked to markers of cardiovascular risk in Black women in the US, a study suggests. The research found the association was most pronounced for Black women concerned about potential interactions between their children and police. The study recruited 422 Black women aged 30 to 46 in the US and measured [...]