Issue # 137 : 🤑Hormona Raises $6.7M, Alba Health Secures $2.5M; Amazon India Launches Menstrual Health Initiative.

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• Alba Health secured $2.5 million to expand its digital microbiome testing and personalized nutrition platform for children, supported by Unconventional Ventures and other key investors. 
• London’s healthtech startup Hormona raises $6.7M seed round to expand and launch AI-powered at-home hormone tests helping women track and optimize hormonal health.
• Brainreader, an Aalborg, Denmark-based medtech company, raised €6.6m in funding. The round was led by Dahlgren Capital, with participation from continued support from existing backer Investo Capital.
• AusperBio, a San Francisco, CA- and Hangzhou, China-based privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to advancing targeted oligonucleotide therapies, raised $50M in Series B+ funding.
• Grin Therapeutics, Inc., a NYC-based leader in the development of therapies to treat serious neurodevelopmental disorders, closed a $140m Series D financing. This included a $65m strategic equity investment from Angelini Pharma and $75m from existing investor Blackstone Life Sciences.
• MDA – Medical Decision Alliance, a Leipzig, Germany-based healthcare startup, raised €3.3m in seed financing. The round was led by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) with additional private investors and entrepreneurs.
• Kyron.bio, a Paris, France-based glycan engineering startup, raised €5.5m in funding. The round was led by HCVC with participation from Verve Ventures, Entrepreneur First, and Saras Capital. 
• ProteinQure, a Toronto, Canada-based biotechnology company developing computational peptide therapeutics, raised $11M in Series A funding. The round was led by Tom Williams of Heron Rock Fund, with participation from Golden Ventures, Kensington Capital, and others.
• Quadria Capital, a New Delhi, India-based healthcare-focused private equity firm, announced the final close of its Fund III with US$1.07 Billion in total commitments, exceeding its original $800M target.

• India-France researchers created an AI tool to help doctors choose antibiotics against drug-resistant infections, improving treatment when bacteria resist standard options.
• KIMSHEALTH has launched Kerala’s first AI-integrated smart ambulance service, introducing advanced digital capabilities to improve emergency medical response and in-transit care.
• Researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela have developed a biosensor to identify breast cancer cells without adding chemicals or complex laboratory infrastructure. 
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) has urged the National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM-Kundli) to develop a smartwatch-like device that can track an individual’s daily nutrition levels.
• Amazon India aims to reach 2 lakh girls and women by 2025 through its menstrual health initiative, already benefiting over 50,000 across 130 villages and 14 cities nationwide.

• Amid the fresh wave of Covid-19, is nasal spray gene therapy a promising treatment for lung diseases? Researchers have developed a new viral delivery system designed efficiently to target the lungs and respiratory airways. It could help in tackling various respiratory illnesses including pulmonary fibrosis and Covid-19
• AI-integrated smart ambulance service equipped with cutting-edge technology launched in Kerala. Emergency physicians will be able to monitor the critical health parameters of the patient in real-time and provide accurate treatment directives
• Consumption of ultra-processed foods is a part of many individuals’ diets across the globe. What many do not realise is the minimal nutritional value and the artificial additives that can be a reason for other chronic diseases.  However, can the consumption of ultra-processed food increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease? In collaboration with Alberto Ascherio at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health researchers at Fudan University in Shanghai, China had some interesting insights. 
• An interesting study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition explored the role of vitamin D supplements in slowing the biological ageing process.  The study is based on data from a VITAL (VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL) sub-study co-led by researchers at the Harvard-affiliated Mass General Brigham and the Medical College of Georgia.
• Young people who have faced mental health challenges are helping with a new scheme in Sussex aimed at providing specialist care at home. The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) team run by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust is “drawing on the experiences of those who have been through the system to try to improve outcomes”. The former service users are helping to design the scheme aimed at treating some people at home rather than admitting them to hospital.
• A new surgical approach aims to offer women a more natural breast shape following implant removal, without the need for fat transfer or replacement implants. The Q-Flap™ procedure, developed by board-certified plastic surgeon Dr Suzanne Quardt, uses a patient’s existing breast tissue to maintain fullness and contour after explant surgery.
• New survey results highlight a striking disconnect between women and healthcare professionals when it comes to menopause, with many women enduring symptoms in silence. Findings from a poll of around 1,000 American women aged 40–70 show that one in three never discuss menopause symptoms with a healthcare provider, pointing to deep communication barriers.

• Alamar Biosciences, a company powering precision proteomics to enable the earliest detection of disease, announced a strategic collaboration with SciLifeLab to advance translational proteomics and accelerate biomarker discovery.
• BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc., a leading developer of adult stem cell therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced that it has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Minaris Advanced Therapies, a global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) specializing in cell and gene therapies, to manufacture NurOwn for its upcoming clinical trial.
• Sanofi announces the completion of its acquisition of DR-0201, a targeted bispecific myeloid cell engager, from Dren Bio, Inc., a private clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. The acquisition bolsters Sanofi’s ambition to become the foremost immunology company and broadens the company’s leading immunology pipeline.
• Biogen Inc, and City Therapeutics Inc, a privately held biopharmaceutical company harnessing next-generation engineering of RNAi trigger molecules to improve and expand the reach of RNAi-based medicines, announced a strategic collaboration to develop select novel RNAi therapies.
• Healthcare-focused engineering and AI solutions company Invene has acquired Guidea – a product design consultancy. The acquisition will expand Invene’s capabilities beyond software engineering to expand into a full-stack innovation partner, supporting the next generation of AI-driven healthcare products from blueprint to build.
• Midi Health has launched AgeWell, a longevity program specifically designed for women and covered by insurance nationwide, addressing a significant gap in the $600 billion longevity industry that has traditionally focused on male-centric approaches.

• The Union Ministry of Ayush has made amendments to its earlier notification to add a representative from Maharashtra to the Advisory Council for Indian Systems of Medicine, constituted in September, 2021. It has also replaced the member in the council representing Delhi, through its latest notification.
• The Union health ministry has notified the constitution of National Allied and Healthcare Advisory Council (NAHAC) to advise the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions (NCAHP) on issues relating to allied and healthcare professionals.

📳 – Quick Reads: 

• What happens to our bones as we age? This new research might have some answers This breakthrough can help experts improve treatments for osteoporosis and other age-related bone loss.
• Antidepressants may accelerate cognitive decline in dementia patients. SSRIs may accelerate cognitive decline in dementia patients, with escitalopram showing the worst effects, Swedish study reveals

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See you next Friday, friends 👋
Navneet

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