Two out of three people[1] diagnosed with dementia are women. As the number of people living with dementia increases each year, there is a growing need to provide not only innovations addressing dementia’s effects but also women’s health issues as they age.
One of these issues centers around pelvic health, as one in four women[2] will experience a pelvic floor disorder (PFD) in their lifetime – whether from urinary incontinence (accidental urine leak, a common occurrence in people living with dementia) to pelvic organ prolapse (pelvic organs dropping from their normal position due to weakening of pelvic floor muscles).
Enter Hyivy Health and Cosm Medical, two Canadian companies injecting much-needed innovation in the field with support from the Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation (CABHI), powered by Baycrest. CABHI supports Hyivy Health and Cosm Medical through its Mentorship, Capital, and Continuation (MC2) Program, in partnership with National Bank – an investment program supporting early-stage healthtech and fintech companies.
Hyivy Health
Hyivy Health provides a pelvic rehabilitation system connecting patients and clinicians. The 3-in-1 system includes a vaginal wand (providing home therapy while delivering data to both the patient and health care provider), an app, and clinician software providing real-time information to patients.
The company was born out of Hyivy founder Rachel Bartholomew’s experience while undergoing cervical cancer treatment in 2019. “I had been given the standard of care eleven years prior for other pelvic floor issues…eleven years later, still nothing had been innovated on… [I thought] this is unacceptable. We need to do something about this,” she explains in CABHI’s Community of Innovation Podcast (Season 3, Episode 32).
Cosm Medical
Cosm Medical is developing Gynethotics™, the world’s first custom-made gynecological prosthetic for PFDs. Using the latest advancements in ultrasound, cloud software, artificial intelligence, and 3d printing, Cosm is reengineering the pessary, a gynecological prosthetic device used to reinforce the pelvic floor and manage PFD symptoms.
“Our Gynethotics are made-to-measure because every woman is different,” says Cosm Medical founder Derek Sham. “We’ve developed this technique to personalize care for women suffering from a largely common, growing, and underserved global health issue.”
Through the MC2 Program, CABHI supports companies by providing investment and access to acceleration services (including its Innovation Network, Coaches Community, customer discovery, and more). Visit cabhi.com for more details.
[1] https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/what-dementia/dementia-numbers-canada#ref3
[2] https://www.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/roughly-one-quarter-us-women-affected-pelvic-floor-disorders