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Medical device company raises US$9.4m to address pelvic floor disorders
Proceeds from the fundraising will support the commercial launch of Axena Health’s Leva Pelvic Health System
The US medical device company Axena Health has raised US$9.4m in funding to help women struggling with pelvic floor disorders.
Axena Health offers a novel treatment for urinary incontinence and chronic faecal incontinence, underreported pelvic conditions affecting over 78 million and 12 million women in the US alone.
The company’s technology provides a non-invasive, medication-free way for women to train their pelvic floor muscles at home.
Cross-Border Impact Ventures co-invested alongside existing investors AXA IM Alts through its Global Healthcare Private Equity Strategy, KOFA Healthcare and Avestria Ventures.
Proceeds from the fundraising will support Axena Health’s growth, including the commercial launch of its Leva Pelvic Health System. The capital will also support the development of new treatments for low- and middle-income countries.
“Over the past year since Axena Health’s founding, we’ve seen remarkable US prescriber adoption and growth in payer coverage, leading to improved patient access,” said Jim O’Connor, CFO and interim CEO of Axena Health.
“The demand for improved first-line treatment options for urinary incontinence and chronic faecal incontinence is clear and we’re thrilled to partner with Cross-Border Impact Ventures and our existing investors to reach more women across the US.
“Cross-Border Impact Ventures’ focus on impacting women’s health globally also aligns perfectly with Axena Health’s ongoing work in sub-Saharan Africa to improve access to evidence-based treatments.”
Donna Parr, managing director and partner at Cross-Border Impact Ventures and now member of Axena Health’s board of directors, said: “Pelvic floor disorders are typically progressive conditions and affect women globally. Too often, women are left with the option of either suffering in silence or pursuing long-term medications or surgical solutions.
“In our view, neither of those treatments is accessible at scale, particularly not in low resource settings. The Leva Pelvic Health System provides the opportunity to improve access and health outcomes so we couldn’t be more excited to partner on Axena Health’s growth.”
Dr Zina Affas Besse, deputy head of healthcare private equity at AXA IM Alts, added: “AXA IM Alts is thrilled to have been Axena Health’s founding investor in 2023.
“We’re excited to partner with Donna and Cross-Border Impact Ventures as the company works to improve treatment options for more women in the US and globally, in line with our objectives of generating outcomes that benefit people and the planet, while meeting our clients’ financial objectives.”
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Scientists say they have ‘rejuvenated’ human eggs, in work that could improve IVF success rates for older women.
The team reports that an age-related defect causing genetic errors in embryos may be reversed by supplementing eggs with a key protein.
In eggs donated by fertility patients, microinjection of the protein cut the share showing the defect from 53 per cent to 29 per cent.
The findings were presented at the British Fertility Conference in Edinburgh by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen.
The technique is being commercialised by Ovo Labs, co-founded by professor Melina Schuh, who led the research.
The approach targets problems in meiosis, the process where eggs halve their genetic material before fertilisation.
In older eggs, chromosome pairs can loosen and separate too soon, leading to embryos with too many or too few chromosomes, known as aneuploidy.
The researchers found levels of a protein called Shugoshin 1, which helps hold chromosome pairs together, decline with age. Microinjections appeared to restore this “molecular glue” and reduce errors.
Professor Schuh said: “Overall we can nearly halve the number of eggs with [abnormal] chromosomes. That’s a very prominent improvement.
“Most women in their early 40s do have eggs, but nearly all of the eggs have incorrect chromosome numbers. This was the motivation for wanting to address this problem.
“What is really beautiful is that we identified a single protein that, with age, goes down, returned it to young levels and it has a big effect.
We are just restoring the younger situation again with this approach.
Declining egg quality is a major reason IVF success rates fall steeply with age.
UK figures show an average birth rate of 35 per cent per embryo transferred for patients under 35, dropping to 5 per cent for women aged 43 to 44.
Dr Agata Zielinska, co-founder and co-chief executive of Ovo Labs, said: “Currently, when it comes to female factor infertility, the only solution that’s available to most patients is trying IVF multiple times so that, cumulatively, your likelihood of success increases.
“What we envision is that many more women would be able to conceive within a single IVF cycle.”
The approach would not extend fertility beyond menopause.
The team is in talks with regulators about a clinical trial.
Dr Güneş Taylor, of the University of Edinburgh, who was not involved, said: “This is really important work because we need approaches that work for older eggs because that’s the point at which most women appear.
“If there’s a one-shot injection that substantially increases the number of eggs with properly organised chromosomes, that gives you a better starting point.”
Women with two to three children live longest, while having more than four is linked to shorter lives, research on biological ageing suggests.
The study also found timing matters, with pregnancies roughly between ages 24 and 38 linked to more favourable ageing and longevity patterns.
Somewhat unexpectedly, childless women showed faster ageing than women with a few children, though this may be explained by other lifestyle or health factors.
Doctoral researcher Mikaela Hukkanen, who conducted the study, said: “From an evolutionary biology perspective, organisms have limited resources such as time and energy.
“When a large amount of energy is invested in reproduction, it is taken away from bodily maintenance and repair mechanisms, which could reduce lifespan.”
The research, conducted by the University of Helsinki and the Minerva Foundation Institute for Medical Research, followed nearly 15,000 female twins born between 1880 and 1957. Participants completed a questionnaire in 1975 and have been followed regularly since.
A novel aspect was measuring ageing biologically using epigenetic clocks, which detect ageing-related cellular changes by analysing chemical markers in blood samples. These can identify signs of biological ageing years before death.
The epigenetic analysis of more than 1,000 participants supported the mortality findings, showing women with many children or no children were biologically somewhat older than their chronological age.
Dr Miina Ollikainen, who led the study, said: “A person who is biologically older than their calendar age is at a higher risk of death. Our results show that life history choices leave a lasting biological imprint that can be measured long before old age.
“In some of our analyses, having a child at a young age was also associated with biological ageing.
“This too may relate to evolutionary theory, as natural selection may favour earlier reproduction that entails shorter overall generation times, even if it entails health-related costs associated with ageing.”
The researchers emphasised that the findings apply only at population level and do not demonstrate cause-effect relationships.
Dr Ollikainen added: “An individual woman should therefore not consider changing her own plans or wishes regarding children based on these findings.”
An NHS GP and menopause specialist has urged women to do three monthly health checks, examining their chest, vulva and moles.
Dr Carys Sonnenberg, an NHS women’s health GP and founder of the Rowena Health Menopause Clinic, shared the recommendation on TikTok, suggesting the first of each month as a good time to perform the checks.
She said: “It’s the first of the month, so it’s a really good day to do your chest check, to do your vulva check, and also to examine any moles that you have on your body, not forgetting your head.”
“When you are looking at your body, it’s really good to know what’s normal for you.
“So the CoppaFeel! website has got some brilliant information, with teaching you how to examine your chest properly, and knowing what problems you might be looking for, and anything that you need to report to your GP.”
CoppaFeel! is a breast cancer awareness charity that encourages monthly chest examinations.
The charity states: “Be aware of changes to your breasts and chest that might be signs of breast cancer.
“Getting into the habit of checking your chest every month is an easy way to stay on top of this.
“It’s also important to understand that some of these changes happen naturally, like during your monthly cycle.”
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