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Round up: First wearable detects symptoms of perimenopause, and more
Femtech World explores the latest business developments in the world of women’s health.
First wearable detects and decodes the symptoms of perimenopause
AI-driven women’s health company, IdentifyHer, has launched Peri, the world’s first wearable designed to detect and decode symptoms of perimenopause.
“75 per cent of perimenopausal women experience life-disrupting symptoms, yet perimenopause is treated like a mystery or an inevitability that women simply have to power through,” said Heidi Davis, co-founder of IdentifyHer.
“We reject this. Women deserve real data, validation, and support during this profoundly overlooked stage of life
“With Peri, we are pioneering a new era of women’s healthcare; one where women are in control of their health and equipped to manage the symptoms that shape how we feel – physically, mentally and emotionally.”
For most women perimenopause begins in the early to mid-40’s and brings wide-ranging symptoms that are often dismissed by healthcare providers.
Using biosensing technology and AI-driven analytics, Peri is a wearable device that passively tracks physiological signals to identify perimenopause symptoms and delivers personalised insights.
It helps women address perimenopausal challenges like anxiety, hot flashes, sleep disruption, nights sweats and more – issues that could have long-term health implications.
The device profiles these symptoms across the menstrual cycle, examining their interrelationships, and tracking changes over time.
“Heidi and I first launched IdentifyHer with the mission to support women’s long-term health, and immediately recognised that to do this, we need to address the gap in perimenopause symptom data,” said Donal O’Gorman, COO and co-founder of IdentifyHer.
“Our goal with Peri is to demystify perimenopause, but more importantly, to empower and reassure women they are not alone in what they’re feeling and it is possible to take proactive action towards their health.”
Emm raises £6.8m to launch world’s first smart menstrual solution
UK-based biowearable tech company, Emm, has raised £6.8m in an oversubscribed seed funding round, to bring the world’s first smart menstrual cup and connected app to market.
Creating a new category of “smart menstrual care”, Emm will equip users to understand their individual menstrual baseline and track key metrics for personalised insights into their menstrual health.
The funding will support Emm in bringing the product to market and accelerating the pathway to further clinical product development, as the business moves to transform the research, diagnosis and treatment of reproductive and menstrual health conditions.
Results published on potential endometriosis treatment
Biotech company Hope Medicine has announced that the results of a proof-of-concept Phase II clinical trial evaluating HMI-115 (a human monoclonal antibody targeting the prolactin receptor) for the treatment of endometriosis-related pain have been published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology, & Women’s Health.
The research, carried out in collaboration with Peking University, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Shandong University, and other institutions, aimed to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and preliminary efficacy of HMI-115 in premenopausal women with moderate to severe endometriosis-related pain.
Results showed that at the end of the 12-week treatment period, dysmenorrhea NRS scores decreased by 41 per cent, 34 per cent, and 27 per cent in the 240 mg, 120 mg, and 60 mg HMI-115 groups, respectively, compared to the 18 per cent reduction in the placebo group.
Non-menstrual pelvic pain NRS scores also decreased across all HMI-115 dosage groups, with sustained efficacy observed at Week 25.
The company says that percentage reductions of dysmenorrhea and non-menstrual pelvic pain in the 240 mg group was statistically significant compared to placebo.
Additionally, HMI-115 groups showed improvements in the Endometriosis Daily Impact Pain (EDIP) scores and reduced use of NSAID rescue medications.
In terms of safety, the incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) was 56 per cent, 59 per cent, 75 per cent, and 37 per cent in the 60 mg, 120 mg, 240 mg HMI-115 groups, and placebo group, respectively.
The most common adverse events included injection site itching and rash, dizziness, nausea, nasopharyngitis, and headaches.
No treatment-related deaths or serious adverse events were reported. Unlike existing hormonal therapies, HMI-115 did not cause hypoestrogenic side effects such as hot flashes or depression, and bone mineral density and key sex hormone levels remained stable during treatment.
This study is the first to clinically validate the potential of blocking prolactin receptor signaling to alleviate endometriosis-related pain.
Its non-hormonal mechanism of action avoids interference with ovulation and menstrual cycles, offering a promising new option for patients with fertility intentions.
The research team stated that these findings provide a strong foundation for initiating longer-duration Phase III trials to further evaluate the clinical benefits and risks of HMI-115.
A month of milestones in breast imaging innovation
Koning Health has said that October marked a substantial month for Koning in its mission to expand access to non-compression breast imaging.
The last several weeks saw the continued expansion of Koning’s technology to new and diverse settings across the country, including the official launch of Gnosis Dx, which introduced a mobile breast imaging and diagnostics platform powered by the Koning Vera Breast CT (KBCT) on the West Coast.
Designed to travel directly into communities, the Gnosis trailer is meant to reduce barriers to early detection and address disparities in access in the state of California.
On Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Pink Medical celebrated its grand opening this month with a ribbon-cutting event led by fashion icon Nicole Miller. This New York City location aims to redefine the breast imaging scene in the Big Apple.
Koning’s installation at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami brought the Vera system to one of Florida’s most respected medical institutions.
The device will be used both clinically and for research, advancing the understanding of breast CT’s role in precision detection and patient-centered imaging.
Koning continues to expand its international reach as the only breast CT manufacturing company that has received global critical regulatory and quality achievements including Koning’s 3D breast imaging system remains the only FDA-approved breast CT device commercially available for diagnostic use in the US.
The company is also seeing progress advancing in Australia (TGA) and through Europe’s GMED for CE Mark.
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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