Improving Diagnosis for Women with PAD

Women were excluded from clinical trials until 1993. That's 30 years of drugs, diagnostics, and treatment protocols built on male bodies and handed to women anyway. My guest this week is Mads Lillelund, CEO of Qvin the company that built the world's first FDA-cleared diagnostic menstrual pad. It detects diabetes, cervical cancer, endometriosis, STIs, ovarian cancer, and fertility markers all from menstrual blood that women have been throwing away for decades. Non-invasive. No needle. No clinic visit. In Stanford University and Roche validation studies, Qvin found 10% more HPV cases than the pap smear. The gold standard. Outperformed. FDA cleared. And now in active clinical trials across 24 Planned Parenthood sites in the US. We talked about: → What getting FDA clearance actually looks like when the FDA doesn't know what to do with your product. → Why endometriosis takes 7–10 years to diagnose and what Qvin found in the signal. → How you get a diagnostic pad to a woman in a village outside Nairobi with no mail system, no clinic, and a male aid worker. → What it means to be a male CEO building in women's health → The 10-year vision: when menstruation diagnostics aren't FemTech they're just medicine. This is one of the most important conversations in women's health I've had on this show. 1.8 billion people menstruate. Most of them have never had a diagnostic built for their biology. That's the gap, Qvin is closing it. Spotify 👉 https://lnkd.in/gyWqYeM8 Youtube 👉 https://lnkd.in/gXej2c-q Apple Podcasts 👉 https://lnkd.in/gVXPnEpp Brought to you by Ctrl.Alt.Thrive, the media arm of TechThrive Ventures in partnership with FemTech India. #GenderDataGap #WomensHealth #GenderDataGap #FDACleared #CtrlAltThrive #Qvin #FemtechIndia

We've been flushing diagnostic data down the toilet for decades. Menstrual blood contains biomarkers for glucose levels, thyroid function, inflammation, fertility status, nutrient deficiencies, and even early cancer signals. Every single month. Exposed to endometrial tissue, cervical mucus, and proteins that don't even exist in your regular bloodstream. And frankly, it's a blood draw and a tissue biopsy in one. And we're treating it like waste. Meanwhile, your annual physical gives you 7 minutes with a doctor and a blood draw taken while you're stressed and probably not fasted. A snapshot so narrow it misses most of what's actually happening inside your body. Entering... Qvin! They built the first FDA-cleared diagnostic menstrual pad, a removable strip that collects menstrual blood for lab analysis. No needles, no appointment, no begging your doctor to run the right panel. Their FDA clearance currently covers A1c, with TSH, AMH, and HPV screening in research and development. But the underlying science is validated and moving fast. Here's where it gets personal for me: Research protein panels have detected endometrial cancer in menstrual fluid up to 5 years before clinical diagnosis. FIVE YEARS!!! Endometrial cancer cells shed directly into menstrual blood every month. The data was always there. We just never looked for it. The same fluid can flag endometriosis markers years before anyone suggests a laparoscopy, which currently takes 7 to 12 years to diagnose. Oh, and it can track fertility markers monthly instead of relying on one blood draw and a prayer. If you have been following me for a while, you know that I lost both my parents to cancer. The idea that we had monthly access to early detection data this whole time and ignored it because periods were "taboo..." I don't have a professional response to that. I have a personal one. And it's RAGE. To me, the future of women's diagnostics isn't an annual appointment. It's the monthly data you collect yourself, in your own bathroom, and on your finger (or wrist), with your doctor confirming what you have already surfaced.

Revolutionizing Women’s Health Imagine a world where a simple menstrual pad could help detect early signs of cancer or other life-threatening conditions. That future is already taking shape. Engineers and healthcare innovators are developing smart menstrual pads embedded with biosensors capable of analyzing menstrual blood for disease markers. From early cancer detection to reproductive health insights, this technology taps into an underutilized yet information-rich biological sample. 📱 Some prototypes even sync with mobile apps, giving users immediate, actionable feedback. This innovation isn’t just about diagnostics—it’s about empowerment. It's about bridging the gap between tech and everyday healthcare for women worldwide. 🔬 As we continue advancing femtech, it’s time to rethink how we approach routine health monitoring—and menstrual blood might just be the key.

Smart Menstrual Pads: The Next Frontier in Women’s Health Diagnostics 🩸💡 Menstrual blood is a rich, underutilized source of health information, containing cells, proteins, and biomarkers that reflect systemic and reproductive health. A smart menstrual pad—capable of analyzing menstrual blood in real-time—could transform women’s health by enabling early detection of diseases like: Cervical and ovarian cancers. Endometriosis and PCOS. Even non-reproductive conditions like thyroid disorders or metabolic syndromes. 🌟 The benefits: Non-invasive, at-home testing during a natural physiological process. Early detection = better outcomes. Empowerment through self-monitoring. 💬 Challenges: Data privacy, interpretation of complex biomarkers, regulatory hurdles. But the potential is enormous: Transforming a routine monthly occurrence into a powerful diagnostic tool. Would you embrace such technology as part of your regular health monitoring? #WomensHealth #FemTech #EarlyDetection #Biomarkers #HealthcareInnovation #FutureOfMedicine

A simple sanitary pad could soon help detect cervical cancer — and it may change women’s health screening worldwide. Researchers at Hubei University tested more than 3,000 women and found that menstrual blood collected on a specially designed pad can detect high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus responsible for nearly all cervical cancer cases, with nearly the same accuracy as traditional clinic-based cervical samples. Because menstrual blood naturally carries cells shed from the cervix, scientists were able to analyze HPV DNA without a pelvic exam, speculum, or Pap smear, making the process painless, private, and easier to access. This matters deeply as cervical cancer still causes over 600,000 new cases and more than 340,000 deaths globally each year, according to the World Health Organization, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries where screening rates remain low. Although the method is still in the research phase and requires further validation before widespread rollout, experts say home-based testing like this could dramatically increase early detection, especially in communities where women avoid screening due to discomfort, stigma, or limited clinic access. If confirmed in larger studies, this innovation could bring life-saving screening closer to millions of women around the world — simply and safely. If a simple, private menstrual pad test became widely available, how do you think it could change cervical cancer screening rates and women’s health outcomes in your community? Let me know in the comments and remember to follow me for more medical and research news. Source: Researchers at Hubei University; global cervical cancer data from the World Health Organization. #cervicalcancerscreening #cervicalcancer #cervicalcancerprevention

🩸 A new device built into menstrual pads can detect disease — including cancer and endometriosis Scientists have developed a new device that can be embedded in menstrual pads to detect disease biomarkers in period blood—potentially offering a noninvasive way to screen for conditions like ovarian cancer. The lightweight, silicone-encased prototype holds a paper test strip that changes color when exposed to specific proteins, including C-reactive protein (CRP) for inflammation, carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) linked to certain cancers, and cancer antigen-125 (CA-125), which is associated with ovarian cancer. Early lab tests with menstrual and venous blood showed strong agreement with standard clinical chemistry methods, and volunteers reported no difference in comfort compared to regular pads. The device’s potential lies in its accessibility: unlike current blood tests, it could be used at home, providing women with a simple way to track biomarkers over time. Researchers envision it as an “early warning” tool, particularly for those at higher genetic risk of cancer. However, they caution that the device could also raise anxiety if results are misinterpreted, and that issues like excess blood obscuring the test need refinement. Larger real-world trials with about 100 participants are planned, and if successful, the technology could reach the market within three years—making menstrual blood a powerful new resource in preventive health. Source: Herrmann, Inge et al. “A Menstrual Pad Device for Detecting Disease Biomarkers.” Advanced Science, May 2025.