Despite government efforts to prop up biopharma and med-tech research toward creating women’s health products, companies must eventually reach out to the private markets to bring their inventions to the next stage of development. Anna Zornosa-Heymann, a women’s health investor, serves as a part-time contractor with the U.S. NIH’s SEED (Small business Education & Entrepreneurial Development) office, where she helps companies move from government to external funding. Government funds are “excellent to pay for research … but those funds don’t allow you to build a first-class team and to develop a sales apparatus,” she told BioWorld.

While women make up half the world’s population and own two out of every five businesses, there are substantial knowledge gaps about conditions affecting their health – mostly due to decades of research excluding women from clinical trials and investment decisions.

At the BioFuture 2024 conference held in New York in November, Seema Kumar, the CEO of Cure, described women’s health as something that has been directed at the “bikini area.” That “bikini” bias extended to both diseases and their causes – women’s health covered the breasts and reproductive system, and its causes were hormonal. Both concepts are far too narrow.

It’s difficult to fathom that the health of half the world’s population is underserved. But it’s a hard truth. There are many conditions that disproportionately impact women. Other conditions and diseases affect women in different ways than men. Decades of research excluding women from clinical trials and investment decisions in male-dominated board rooms have ignored these facts. Though an increasing number of women are now managing investments and driving the research, it’s all still woefully behind. In BioWorld’s new report, Healing the health divide, we’ve highlighted the disparities.

Six main cell types form glioblastomas (GBM), the most aggressive brain cancer due to its high rate of recurrence. Of these six, quiescent cancer stem cells are responsible for resistance to therapy and the reappearance of the tumor, according to a study that identified the six groups and highlighted the importance of these stem cells for the design of more effective therapies.

Radiopharmaceutical biotech and contract development and organization firm Duchembio Co. Ltd. filed a securities report to South Korea’s Financial Services Commission Nov. 11, kickstarting the IPO process to list on the Korea Exchange.

Zap Surgical Systems Inc. reported closing a $78 million series E funding round led by Qingdao Baheal Medical Inc., with participation from other strategic investors. The new funds will be used to commercialize the company’s Zap-X gyroscopic radiosurgery platform for the non-invasive treatment of brain tumors.

Hyperfine Inc. gained CE mark approval for the latest generation of its artificial intelligence-powered software for its Swoop portable magnetic resonance imaging system, under the European Medical Device Regulation.

Data from two Alzheimer’s tests being developed by Roche Holding AG showed high accuracy in detecting the disease in patients being tested for the condition. The tests measure biomarkers in the blood linked to Alzheimer’s and will help provide desperately needed information by letting patients know whether they have the disease or not, Margherita Carboni, Neurology Indication Lead at Roche Diagnostics told BioWorld.

Inbrain Neuroelectronics SL closed a $50 million series B financing round to advance clinical trials for its graphene-based brain-computer interface therapeutics platform. The company also secured additional funding from Merck KGaA GmbH which will go towards developing the technology for application across both central and peripheral nervous systems.