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.

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.

Ifast Diagnostics Ltd. raised $6.5 million (£5 million) in seed funding to bring its rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) platform to the market. The company’s technology is vital in the fight against antimicrobial resistance and the funds will be used to conduct clinical trials to get the product to the market in the U.K., U.S. and EU, CEO Toby King, told BioWorld.

Cell and gene therapy companies are the beneficiaries of positive changes along the regulatory path that the U.S. FDA is paving for them, according to a panel of executives who spoke at the BioFuture 2024 conference in New York.

Prognomiq Inc. secured $34 million in a series D funding round to advance development of an early detection test for lung cancer based on its multiomics platform. The blood-based test could provide an alternative to the underutilized low-dose CT scans currently recommended for individuals at high-risk of lung cancer.