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Digital health start-up raises US$7m to advance equity in clinical trials
Acclinate seeks to mobilise diverse communities to enhance equity in clinical trials
The US digital health start-up Acclinate has raised US$7m in Series A funding to improve equity in clinical trials.
Acclinate aims to drive diversity in clinical trials with a community engagement platform that promises to help make existing trials more inclusive and plan more diverse studies moving forward.
The Alabama-based company uses a combination of community engagement and predictive analytics to help pharmaceutical companies increase diversity in their trials and other healthcare organisations support inclusivity in their initiatives.
Led by Cencora Ventures, with participation from Labcorp and Latimer Ventures, the funding is hoped to enable Acclinate to scale its impact in the clinical trial diversity and health equity landscapes.
“This round of funding allows us to continue the work that moves clinical trial diversity forward,” Tiffany Whitlow, co-founder and chief development officer at Acclinate, told Femtech World.
“We know that under-resourced communities must be uniquely engaged. With more resources, our team can produce even more targeted efforts, including technology-based and grassroots tactics which will help us reach a demographic that is least engaged and simultaneously most needed in clinical research.
“Likewise, this funding also means we are edging closer towards bridging the gap between the healthcare industry and the communities that stand to reap a direct and generational benefit from more diverse research.”
Del Smith, co-founder and CEO of Acclinate, said: “This investment marks a significant milestone for Acclinate and underscores our commitment to revolutionising health equity and clinical trial diversity at a larger scale.
“With the backing of prominent healthcare organizations like Cencora and Labcorp, we are poised to accelerate tangible change in the healthcare industry and empower diverse communities to proactively manage their health.”
The funding, Smith said, will help “fuel” Acclinate’ s expansion and help improve its Enhanced Diversity in Clinical Trials (e-DICT) platform.
“As Acclinate continues to pioneer initiatives aimed at inclusivity and equity in healthcare, this infusion of capital propels our mission forward, bringing us one step closer to a future where healthcare is truly accessible to all,” he added.
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A new study is the first to systematically examine how severe menstrual symptoms affect working life, exposing a major research gap and the need for more inclusive policies.
Researchers analysed global studies to identify common themes and to map the challenges women face at work.
The work, led by the University of Portsmouth, highlights how little research exists on workplace menstrual health despite evidence that 25 per cent of women experience severe symptoms.
These include cramps, breast tenderness, mood changes, headaches, fatigue and back pain, alongside heavy bleeding, painful periods, anaemia (low red blood cells), irregular cycles, fibroids (non-cancerous growths) and endometriosis (tissue similar to the womb lining growing outside the uterus).
Lead author Amtullah Oluwakanyinsola Adegoke said: “We need to recognise that women and girls menstruate – it’s a natural part of life.
“As members of society, their needs should be acknowledged as part of the life cycle.
“While menopause awareness has grown, menstrual health and endometriosis are still not widely understood.”
While analysing previous data, the researchers found a survey of more than 42,000 women aged 15 to 45 which revealed that one in three experienced symptoms severe enough to interfere with daily activities, including work.
Researchers identified three themes: impact on women’s workplace wellbeing and quality of life; presenteeism and absenteeism linked to symptoms; and organisational practices, policies and menstrual health inclusion programmes.
The study found that supported employees are more productive, take fewer sick days, stay in their roles longer and engage more.
Poor menstrual health support can lead to depression, poor concentration, reduced performance and an overall negative effect on wellbeing.
Only 18 per cent of organisations include some form of menstrual health support within their wellbeing initiatives, and just 12 per cent provide dedicated support.
Professor Karen Johnston from the University of Portsmouth said: “Menstrual health remains a largely neglected area of research.
“The majority of existing studies in medical journals focus on clinical aspects, highlighting the need to use menopause research to support the argument for menstruation. Although other topics have received increased attention in the UK, menstrual health continues to be underexplored.
“It shouldn’t be a taboo topic – it should be part of an organisation’s health and wellbeing agenda.
“Alongside training, organisations should explore flexible working and ways to support employees experiencing severe menstrual problems.”
The study emphasised the importance of creating more inclusive workplaces through supportive measures such as menstrual leave, flexible working, access to hygiene products and encouraging open conversations.
In the UK, there is no legal requirement for paid menstrual leave, so employees typically use standard sick leave.
An overlooked fat-derived hormone may drive higher breast cancer death risk in postmenopausal women with obesity, an analysis suggests.
The review identifies oestrone, a form of oestrogen produced in fat tissue, as a major driver of oestrogen receptor positive (ER+) breast cancer, the most common and deadly form of the disease in postmenopausal women.
ER+ means the cancer grows in response to oestrogen. It also raises the possibility that treatment could be improved with the addition of weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.
The analysis was led by Joyce Slingerland, who co-leads the Cancer Host Interaction Program at Georgetown University’s Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in the US.
She said postmenopausal women with obesity are more likely to be diagnosed with ER+ breast cancer and are two to three times more likely to die from it.
Slingerland said: “That’s particularly concerning because it’s estimated that obesity will affect nearly half of women in the United States by the end of the decade.”
Before menopause, the most abundant oestrogen in women is 17β-oestradiol, produced primarily by the ovaries.
After menopause, its levels fall dramatically and oestrone becomes the most abundant form circulating in the blood.
Despite their similar chemical structure, the research suggests these two forms of oestrogen behave very differently.
While 17β-oestradiol turns on genes that reduce inflammation, oestrone does the opposite, activating genes that trigger intense inflammatory activity.
In the context of obesity, levels of oestrone are two to four times higher in fat, breast and other tissues.
The analysis suggests these elevated levels set off a cascade that causes precancerous changes and activates cancer-fuelling genes.
Previous research by the team showed that oestrone-fuelled inflammation activates genes involved in a process that promotes cancer spread.
When researchers treated obese mice with ER+ breast cancer with oestrone, their tumours grew faster and rapidly spread throughout the body compared with mice treated with 17β-oestradiol.
Slingerland said: “Our work has provided some of the causal links between oestrone and the worse outcomes seen in postmenopausal women with ER-positive breast cancer who are obese.
“Simply put, these two oestrogens are not equal to each other.”
The author argues that clinical studies of GLP-1 drugs in women with ER+ breast cancer who have obesity are a logical next step.
Slingerland said: “The GLP-1 drugs have revolutionised weight loss.
“Because of oestrone’s powerful inflammatory effects in fat, there’s real potential that, by inducing weight loss, GLP-1 drugs can pump the brakes on oestrone’s cancer-fuelling behaviour.”
Older women with both insomnia and sleep apnoea show worse verbal memory than those with sleep apnoea alone, a new study has found.
The research revealed that older adults with comorbid insomnia and sleep apnoea, often referred to as COMISA, demonstrated worse memory performance than those with sleep apnoea alone. Sleep apnoea is a condition where breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep.
However, when analysed by sex, the association was only significant in women, not men.
The study, conducted by researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine, involved 110 older adults aged 65 to 83 diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnoea.
Participants completed an overnight sleep study and cognitive testing. COMISA was present in 37 per cent of participants.
Lead author Breanna Holloway, a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego School of Medicine, said: “We expected that having both insomnia and sleep apnoea would worsen memory for everyone, but only older women showed this vulnerability.
“That was striking, especially because women typically outperform men on verbal memory tasks.
“The fact that COMISA seemed to offset that advantage hints at a hidden sleep-related pathway to cognitive decline in women.
“Prior studies have shown increased incidence of Alzheimer’s disease in women with untreated sleep apnoea.”
The researchers suggest sex differences in sleep architecture may explain the vulnerability observed in women.
Post hoc analyses revealed that women with COMISA had reduced rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, the stage associated with dreaming and memory consolidation, and more slow wave (deep) sleep compared with men.
Holloway said: “These results point to an overlooked risk in women with both insomnia and sleep apnoea.”
“Because women are more likely to have insomnia and often go undiagnosed for sleep apnoea, recognising and treating COMISA early could help protect memory and reduce dementia risk.”
The researchers noted that the findings support sex-specific screening and treatment strategies.
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