Dama Health: Revolutionising the way women are matched to their contraception

Current contraceptive methods available to women globally often come with harmful side effects including blood clots, migraines, irregular bleeding, loss of libido and mental-health-related problems. This is well known and more frequently being spoken about in the media, press and medical journals as we become more educated around the topic. For example, you may have heard about the comparisons of the AstraZeneca vaccine and the contraceptive pill earlier in 2020? Studies highlighted that in the UK, blood clots occurred in people taking the AstraZeneca vaccine at a rate of roughly one in every 250,000, whereas blood clots caused by the pill are estimated to affect one in every 1,000 women each year; data we have known about for years but that no-one really batted an eyelid to.

The current system for screening the risk of side effects or individual tolerability of side effects is rather poor, and comparable to a ‘trial-and-error’ approach. Public healthcare providers around the UK only have a limited 10- to 15-minute consultation time to prescribe contraception, where they must quickly screen for potential risk factors which are nuanced and easily missed without care. “We do not have enough information or time to truly understand what side effects are bothersome or acceptably tolerable to women during consultation times,” explains a consultant from the Royal Free Hospital. Our research shows that, as a result, most UK contraceptive users struggle with bothersome side effects, serious adverse consequences and high levels of dissatisfaction with their contraception. Some women give up completely, which may lead to unintended pregnancies. Moreover, contraception is used beyond birth control, for example, to treat a number of women’s health conditions including menstrual disorders, polycystic ovary syndrome, adenomyosis and acne. In these cases, finding a suitable hormonal treatment is absolutely crucial for treating the underlying condition.

The trial-and-error approach to hormonal medications often continues throughout women’s reproductive journeys, from fertility treatments all the way to menopause. At Dama Health, we believe that women shouldn’t experiment with their bodies to randomly test different contraceptive options; instead, they should be able to make informed choices about their reproductive health. We are here to support women on that journey!

We believe that the future of women’s health will be personalised medicine. Dama Health is revolutionising the way women are matched to their contraception. We have created contraception matching tests that consist of digital and genetic screening to identify the most suitable contraception type and formulation for patients’ individual needs. The final product will use our digital screening test and at-home testing kit to gather pertinent data, such as medical history, personal preferences and genetic differences that can be incorporated into evidencebased and truly personalised recommendations of the most suitable contraception type and brand. Our products are being developed with doctors and female health experts and are based on the latest scientific evidence. Our proprietary screening tests take into consideration the patient’s medical needs, personal preferences and previous experiences, as well as the different side effect profiles of hormonal contraceptives. Our genetic panel helps to take things one step further and identify potential risks and predispositions to personalise the recommendation even further. One example of this is by informing users and clinicians if they are at a higher risk of developing specific side effects or lower effectiveness of hormonal medication.

Everyone on the team has experienced the problem Dama Health is tackling – either by seeing it in clinical practice or from personal experience. Our unique combination of skills and passion for the personalisation of female health meant we were very aligned when the founding team first met.

Elena grew up in the Netherlands where most girls were prescribed contraceptives from a very young age, with little to no guidance or education around the potential side effects associated with hormones. When she was older and started studying medical sciences at university, she looked back at this experience and started doing her own digging into the clinical research available around contraceptives. To her surprise, there really wasn’t much! This encouraged her to want to explore the topic further and compile the clinical data that was available to create her own decision-making tool, which she then started

(MSc Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Management 2020)

(BSc Management 2020, MBBS 2022)

sharing with close friends who would ask for advice. She realised that such a tool would only be as good as the research feeding into it, which unfortunately was not a lot. After reading about Dr Aaron Lazorwitz’s research, she reached out to him in 2020 to propose her business plan in the hope of working together to deliver updated science to women.

Paulina has experienced side effects of contraception herself and has seen many of her friends experiencing similar issues. During her clinical attachments at medical school, she discovered that finding the right contraception fit is not only a problem for women, but also for clinicians. She has observed contraception consultations being very rushed, with doctors struggling to explain various methods and establish what would be most suitable to an individual patient within the limited consultation time. Overall, appointments were far from the desired ‘shared decision-making’ scenarios that should be happening between doctors and patients. She worked on implementing an online contraceptive quiz and educational website in a GP clinic in 2019 and saw that the solution had the potential to improve outcomes and satisfaction for doctors and patients. As she progressed through medical school, graduated from Management and nurtured her passion for innovating healthcare, she developed a strong motivation to address this problem at scale.

Dr Aaron Lazorwitz is a practising obstetrician and gynecologist in the US and was astounded to find that the field of women’s health, and specifically contraception, was so far behind in applying personalised medicine principles that were revolutionising other areas of medicine. Like many of his patients, he was frustrated that there was little to no guidance in the prescription of contraceptives for an individual woman and it was essentially only a hit-or-miss approach. This sparked Dr Lazorwitz’s interest in personalised medicine and kickstarted his research on uncovering genetic differences that could help explain why contraceptive methods affect individuals so differently. He hopes that this product will actualise his research into a tangible solution.

We both studied a business degree at Imperial and were inspired by the entrepreneurial environment and incentives throughout Imperial’s programmes, and through the Imperial Enterprise Lab. The number of resources and support available inspired us to research the topic further, and gave us the confidence to go from idea to business plan. We also met so many incredible mentors and future colleagues through Imperial who have opened up incredible opportunities.

Medicine at Imperial exposed Paulina to incredible researchers and medical experts and the opportunities they presented. It was the environment of the business school, the healthtech community in London and her work with startups, however, that contributed to her passion for innovation in medicine and motivated her as an entrepreneur.

It was a mix of luck, intentional networking and a lot of alignment.

Elena reached out to Dr Lazorwitz in 2020 after reading he was recruiting for a clinical trial in the US. They organised a call where Elena proposed her business plan in the hope of working together to commercialise his research and build something impactful together. Soon after, they started working together virtually, looking into possible product development opportunities and supply chain partners for the genetic test kits.

Although we were both studying at Imperial College Business School, we met through a common sidehustle – a job in healthtech content and copywriting. At that time, Paulina was working for healthtech startups and thinking about whether to pursue the contraception project further. It’s not every day you come across people who are as passionate about the same problem as you and as aligned with your vision, despite coming from a different background. We also got along really well. Paulina soon joined the team and, after a few more months of working together, we formally registered the company.

We were very lucky to align so well in terms of our strengths and weaknesses, as well as on a personal level.

We have an incredible group of mentors and advisers who are supporting us in various business areas. Elena has some amazing mentors from Merck KGaA and industry; Paulina has a network of mentors from her clinical practices, London’s healthtech communities and the NHS clinical entrepreneur programme; and Dr Lazorwitz has an incredible network of patients, doctors and researchers in the US.

Through Imperial, we have participated in the Summer Accelerator programme, Imperial Venture Mentoring Service and the WE Accelerate programme. Here we have met the majority of our current advisers and mentors who are helping us with product development, regulation and financial planning.

We have built our proprietary algorithm and beta web-app which is ready to be tested with beta users. Parallel to this, we are busy preparing for a funding round, speaking to clinics across the UK for pilot testing, recruiting for a tech/ data lead and advancing our genetics R&D in the US.

We raised our first ever round of funding in Q1 2022. Our pre-seed round will help us grow our team, match grant funding, build our web-app, accelerate our clinical research and establish reputation.

So much has happened in such a short space of time, but some of our greatest achievements have been successfully completing our pre-seed round, growing the team from two to over ten, successfully applying and being accepted into more than five accelerator and innovation programmes, publishing some of our research at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine Conference in 2021, and getting our first 100 beta tester sign ups!

Coming from a science background, we often look for the truth or the ‘right’ answer to our challenges. It’s quite a big shift to navigate a fast-paced space where there’s no real ‘right’ answer. Being first-time entrepreneurs, we are very open-minded and keen to hear feedback, but it’s sometimes hard to distinguish between valuable advice and noise. Moreover, as a biotech/ healthtech startup, we often find that the usual business frameworks do not apply easily to us, as we have to prove true clinical value, validate our solution from a regulatory point of view, and run research studies which can take longer – especially in the field of women’s health where there is a systemic lack of data on female bodies.

Find people who are passionate about the same problem. It’s a difficult journey and having a team aligned on a bigger vision is one of the greatest strengths. Learn to separate your business idea from yourself – you are not your business and your business is not you. This will allow you to digest feedback and pivot faster if you’re required to do so. Cautiously step outside your safety zone – don’t be afraid to ask for help and make mistakes along the way. Be open with your team about your strengths and weaknesses – this will be crucial to building trust and delegating tasks effectively. And, finally, create a business that you want to create – everyone may have an opinion about how to do things, but you are the one taking the risks and putting the time and effort into making it a working reality, so make sure it’s aligned with your beliefs.

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