Insight
Are we witnessing a revolution in the treatment of endometriosis?
Meet the Israeli biotech start-up paving the way towards a next-generation treatment for endometriosis
March marks Endometriosis Awareness Month, an opportunity to raise awareness, demand change, and show support for the 200 million women of reproductive age affected by the condition globally.
The symptoms of endometriosis can begin in early adolescence and include pelvic pain, painful periods, painful bowel movements, excessive bleeding and, in some cases, infertility.
Currently, there is no cure for it. The most common treatment options are conventional painkillers and hormonal contraceptives.
Though there is no clinical evidence of the efficacy of birth control pills for endometriosis, superficial improvements in symptoms such as dysmenorrhea have prompted healthcare providers to offer them as the first line of treatment.
“One of the first things doctors do is give women the contraceptive pill,” says Paula Keusch, vice president of business development at Gynica Healthcare, an Israeli biotech company developing cannabinoid-based solutions for endometriosis.
“However, the birth control pill is not an ibuprofen. It’s not an aspirin. These are hormones and no one should automatically be given the pill.”
Previous research on the use of illicit cannabis in women with endometriosis has shown promise.
“The endocannabinoid system – a widespread neuromodulatory system that plays important roles in the central nervous system – is crucial in many functions, including body homeostasis, immune system and reproductive functions,” explains Dr Sari Prutchi Sagiv, Gynica VP of research and development.
“The female reproductive tract is full of this endocannabinoid system. The thing with endometriosis is that there is an association between a low function of this endocannabinoid system and endometriosis development and maintenance. So this makes it a very good target for external cannabinoids.
Yotam Hod and Sari Prutchi Sagiv
“Inflammation is a mechanism that triggers endometriosis. There are a lot of agents called pro-inflammatory agents, also known as cytokines, which make the condition worse. On the other hand, many cannabinoids are known for their anti-inflammatory action and can act as good pain relievers.”
In some countries, women have already tried cannabis-based products to treat their symptoms. However, none of the companies commercialising these products seem to have any clinical or preclinical validation.
“Based on a regulatory loophole, all the companies in this sector have brought to market products with no safety validation, no efficacy validation and no standard of care that is expected from a medical product,” says Yotam Hod, co-founder and CEO of Gynica.
“They provide the much needed relief women are looking for, but not a single one of them is validated with preclinical or clinical studies. With Gynica, we’re doing the reverse engineering.
“We are researching the best ingredients, the best concentrations and the ratio of specific ingredients alongside a proprietary intra-vaginal drug delivery method to help us provide an end product that would allow to control the release of those ingredients and help us reach the target organs.”
Gynica is the global first company to run clinical studies using cannabinoids specifically for gynaecological conditions in compliance with pharmaceutical standards and protocols.
But gathering clinical evidence requires a very rigorous process. Clinical studies can take years to be approved and the stigma around medical cannabis does not help.
“Cannabis does come with a lot of stigmas and taboos,” says Hod.
“However, according to pharmaceutical standards, examining the safety and efficacy of cannabinoids and coming up with clinically validated products will help us reduce some of that stigma and empower health professionals.”
“The awareness around endometriosis has allowed women to open up about their excruciating pain, but doctors don’t have a clinically validated medication they can prescribe,” adds Keusch.
“So when these women come across cannabis-based products, they simply want to get that much needed relief without thinking about the risks. But the risks exist.
“Our aim at Gynica is to go through all the necessary clinical trials that would allow us to come up with a safe, pharmaceutical solution.
“Yes, the process is slow and frustrating at times, but in order to get to the best and safest end product possible, we need to follow all the necessary steps,” she continues.
“With the help of our colleagues from this space, who are working on early diagnosis solutions, we can change the way we diagnose and treat this condition.”
The coming 18 months are exciting for Gynica. The start-up will enter its clinical phase and will run two clinical studies – phase one for examining safety and toxicity and phase two for examining product efficacy.
“The clinical phase is the most significant milestone we’ve been waiting for,” says Hod.
“These are our biggest steps forward and I think they will put us in a whole different position.”
The team is also hoping to explore other women’s health conditions.
“We have gained a lot of experience in the past few years when it comes to product development for gynaecological conditions, and we want to explore this space more.
“We can’t talk that much about it, but we’re not stopping at endometriosis.”
“We’re on the right path, but we just need a little bit more time,” adds Keusch.
To find out more, visit gynica.com.
Nighttime temperatures during pregnancy may be linked to a higher chance of an autism diagnosis in children, a recent study suggests.
The research tracked nearly 295,000 mother-child pairs in Southern California from 2001 to 2014 and linked warmer overnight temperatures with higher risk in early and late pregnancy.
Children of mothers exposed to higher than typical nighttime temperatures during weeks one to 10 of pregnancy had a 15 per cent higher risk of an autism diagnosis.
Exposure during weeks 30 to 37 was linked to a 13 per cent higher risk.
Lead author David Luglio, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University, said: “A key takeaway is that we identified specific windows when a mother and her developing child can be most affected by exposures to higher nighttime temperatures.
“This is critical and hopefully can help mothers prepare accordingly.”
The study is described as the first to examine how temperature may affect fetal neurodevelopment, the process by which a baby’s brain and nervous system form during pregnancy.
Extreme temperatures linked to increased risk were classified as above the 90th percentile, meaning 3.6°F hotter than average, and the 99th percentile, 5.6°F above average.
The association held even after researchers accounted for factors such as neighbourhood conditions, vegetation and fine-particle air pollution.
The study could not account for other factors such as access to air conditioning. Researchers did not find the same association with daytime temperatures, potentially because people spend more time away from home during the day.
“Heat waves are becoming more frequent, and people may only think of the dangers of daytime heat exposure,” said Mostafijur Rahman, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University.
“These results indicate a strong association between high nighttime temperatures during pregnancy and autism risk in children and show that we need to think about exposure to heat around the clock.”
The study did not examine how higher temperatures at night might affect prenatal development, though Luglio said it is possible that warmer nights disrupt sleep for pregnant mothers.
Previous research has suggested insufficient sleep during pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of neurocognitive delays in children.
“Extreme heat exposure during pregnancy has been linked to a range of adverse health outcomes, including prenatal neurodevelopment delays and complications with an embryo’s development of a central nervous system,” Luglio said.
“The goal of our study was to specifically explore the link between prenatal heat exposure and autism diagnoses for the first time.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed a delegation of parliamentarians to its Geneva headquarters for a high-level dialogue on women’s health and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The meeting on 20 January 2026 focused on women’s health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, noncommunicable diseases (long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes) and global health cooperation.
The exchange was convened by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, bringing together parliamentarians from Albania, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Zimbabwe.
A central theme was the need to move beyond fragmented approaches to women’s health.
Dr Alia El-Yassir, WHO director for gender, equity and diversity, highlighted that outcomes are shaped by gender inequalities, social norms and structural barriers across the life course, requiring coordinated action across health systems.
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark framework adopted in 1995 to advance gender equality and women’s rights, Dr Anna Coates, WHO gender equality technical lead, noted that progress on women’s health remains uneven.
She called for health systems that are more gender-responsive and able to address women’s health holistically across the life course.
Parliamentarians stressed that health is inseparable from wider social and economic policies, and called for stronger links between evidence, legislation and measurable impact at country level.
The meeting also focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights, where parliamentarians expressed interest in engaging on issues that directly affect their constituents.
Dr Pascale Allotey, director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, outlined WHO’s life-course approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
She highlighted how needs evolve from birth to older age and how these are shaped by social determinants, humanitarian crises and demographic trends.
Dr Allotey underscored the role of parliamentarians in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights and the importance of continued engagement with WHO to support evidence-based policy-making.
The agenda highlighted cancer as a growing priority for women’s health and for health system sustainability. Dr Prebo Barango, lead for the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Dr Meghan Doherty, consultant for palliative care, and Santiago Milan, lead for the WHO Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicine, presented WHO’s integrated approach to cancer control.
Palliative care is treatment and support that aims to improve quality of life for people with serious illness by managing pain and other symptoms.
The discussion underlined the need for sustained political commitment and domestic investment to address noncommunicable diseases.
Parliamentarians shared national experiences showing the social and economic impacts of cancer on families and caregivers, reinforcing the importance of improving health literacy, reducing stigma and delivering people-centred care.
The meeting also addressed the state of global multilateralism.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, assistant director-general for health promotion, disease prevention and care, outlined how WHO has restructured to enhance efficiency, impact and capacity to support countries.
He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to more systematic engagement with parliaments, recognising their role in shaping health policy, legislation and budgets.
The exchange concluded with a call for continued collaboration, including through partnerships with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, ahead of the UNITE Global Summit 2026 on 6–7 March in Manila, the Philippines.
Agilent has FDA approval for a test to identify ovarian cancer patients who may be eligible for immunotherapy.
Agilent’s PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx is the only FDA-approved companion diagnostic to help identify patients with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal carcinoma whose tumours express PD-L1 and who may be eligible for treatment with KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy.
A companion diagnostic is a test used alongside a specific treatment to show whether a patient is suitable for that therapy. PD-L1 is a protein on some cancer cells that helps tumours evade the immune system.
These cancers affect the reproductive system and the lining of the abdominal cavity.
The test enables pathologists to assess PD-L1 expression at diagnosis to support treatment decisions in a disease where options remain limited for many.
This is the seventh FDA-approved companion diagnostic indication for PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx for use with KEYTRUDA.
Nina Green, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s clinical diagnostics division, said: “Delivering effective precision oncology requires close collaboration between diagnostics and therapeutics, and this FDA approval reflects Agilent’s long-standing industry partnership in companion diagnostics.
“We are proud to enable pathologists to identify patients with EOC who may benefit from immunotherapy.
“As the first immuno-oncology approval for this disease, this milestone underscores our commitment to advancing precision medicine and expanding access to innovative cancer treatments worldwide.”
PD-L1 expression with this test was evaluated in the KEYNOTE-B96 clinical trial supporting its use to identify patients who may benefit from KEYTRUDA.
In the US, ovarian cancer caused approximately 12,730 deaths in 2025 and the five-year survival rate was 51.6 per cent between 2015 and 2021.
In addition to these cancer types, the test is indicated in the US to help identify patients with non-small cell lung cancer, oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer and gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma who may benefit from treatment with KEYTRUDA.
The test was developed by Agilent with Merck as a companion diagnostic for KEYTRUDA.
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