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EVERYTHING
Venture Capital Investment in Women’s Health Jumps to $2.6 Billion in 2024
What: Silicon Valley Bank reports that VC investment in women’s health startups hit $2.6 billion in 2024, a major increase over 2023 at $1 billion. But “exiting” successfully (in other words, going public or being bought at a premium by another company) remains a challenge, as evidenced by Willow’s recent acquisition of Elvie.
Key Line: “The lack of exits in women’s health has raised concerns about the sector’s potential, with investors noting difficulty in finding comparable companies and doubts about large returns. However, recent IPOs and M&A activity in related areas suggest that women’s health could help break the exit logjam in the broader healthcare market.”
Source: Silicon Valley Bank
Female Hormones Stimulate Body to Make Opioids, Easing Pain
What: A mouse study from UC San Francisco found female hormones trigger immune cells near the spinal cord to produce opioids, which help suppress pain signals before they reach the brain. The finding could help explain why some painkillers work better for women than men, and why postmenopausal women often experience more pain.
Key Line: “’If that approach is successful, it could really change the lives of the nearly 20% of Americans who experience chronic pain that is not adequately treated,’ [study leader Allan] Basbaum said.”
Source: University of California – San Francisco
BIRTH CONTROL
Overlooked No More: Katharine McCormick, Force Behind the Birth Control Pill
What: A belated obituary for Katharine McCormick, a wealthy activist and philanthropist who was born in 1875 and died in 1967. She used her fortune to fund the development of the birth control pill in the 1950s, And in the 1920s, she smuggled diaphragms into the U.S.
Key Line: “Katharine Dexter McCormick, who was born to a life of wealth, which she compounded through marriage, could have sat back and simply enjoyed the many advantages that flowed her way. Instead, she put her considerable fortune — matched by her considerable willfulness — into making life better for women.”
Source: New York Times
PREGNANCY + POSTPARTUM
Early Detection of Severe Postpartum Hemorrhage
What: A team worked on studies inside and outside the body to find a way to detect postpartum hemorrhage early, a critical challenge in maternal healthcare. They found that measuring the time interval for bleeding to appear at the vagina was the most effective way to predict hemorrhage.
Key Line: “The results indicated that a TI-V of less than 2 s strongly predicted intractable PPH, with a positive predictive value of 100% and a negative predictive value of 98.2%. This straightforward method could significantly improve maternal health outcomes by enabling early identification and management of severe PPH.”
Source: Nature
ABORTION ACCESS
Doctors Talk (Anonymously) About Patient Deaths Due to Lack of Abortion
What: Researchers interviewed critical care physicians in states with abortion bans between 2022 and 2024, and found at least three cases where pregnant patients died unnecessarily because they were not offered an abortion.
Key Line: “Four of the 29 doctors who were interviewed said they did not believe they were allowed to discuss abortion at all with their patients. Of those, two who were interviewed said a total of three of their patients had died. One of those doctors – who had two pregnant patients die – said one patient had been a mother from a large family with several children already, whose disease had ‘in theory’ been well-controlled during pregnancy. But she did not survive delivery. ‘You know, you felt a little bit like your hands were tied because you’d want to counsel termination – not carrying the pregnancy forward, but with the restriction placed in the state, you’re not really sure if that counseling could be a reason that you get in trouble with the legal system, or your license is put under question, because there are rules in other states where that does happen,’ the doctor said.”
Source: The Guardian
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