- Axena Health announced it raised $25 million in funding. These are the details.
Axena Health – a newly-formed commercial-stage medical device company focused on women’s pelvic health – announced a $25 million Series A investment from AXA IM Alts through its Global Healthcare Private Equity Strategy. This investment will support and expand access to the Leva Pelvic Health System, a prescription digital therapeutic (PDT) that offers easy-to-use, at-home treatment for urinary incontinence (UI) and chronic fecal incontinence (FI) in women. The Leva System is cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat stress, mixed and mild-to-moderate urgency UI (including overactive bladder) in women and for first-line treatment of chronic FI in women.
UI and FI are progressive medical conditions that, left untreated, can have a severe impact on a woman’s quality of life and are associated with significant negative comorbidities. And Pelvic Floor Muscle Training (PFMT), commonly referred to as Kegel exercises, strengthen a woman’s pelvic floor muscles, offering symptom relief. However, performing PFMT effectively and consistently can be challenging. The Leva System provides treatment by guiding a woman through PFMT, offering an easy, non-invasive, drug-free way for women to improve UI and chronic FI symptoms. The treatment with the Leva System requires just 5 minutes per day, which women can do at home, on their own schedule.
KEY QUOTES:
“Pelvic floor disorders affect women globally. We believe the Leva Pelvic Health System combines high-quality clinical data with novel technology that harnesses the vast opportunity of digital health to offer a breakthrough, at-home treatment for incontinence. Through our Global Healthcare Private Equity Strategy, AXA IM Alts is supporting innovative, affordable healthcare that can provide more accessible solutions to global health challenges. We believe female incontinence is a significant unmet health need for millions of women worldwide and Axena Health will be uniquely able to address this need. We’re thrilled to be a part of it.”
— Zina Affas Besse, PhD, RPh, Deputy Head of Healthcare Private Equity at AXA IM Alts
“Axena Health is a women-founded, women-funded, women-focused company. We’re grateful to extend this solution globally, where an even greater number of women are silently enduring the significant medical, social and economic effects of incontinence. We look forward to working with Dr. Besse and the AXA IM Alts team to support what we believe is a first-of-its-kind commitment to bring an affordable digital health treatment for incontinence to women regardless of geography.”
— CEO Eileen Maus
“We’re intently focused on combining novel technology, rigorous, peer-reviewed data and excellence in patient support to shine a light on what remains a vastly underserved area of women’s health. The Leva Pelvic Health System can help women ease the burden of incontinence at home, on their own schedule, and allow them to re-engage with the activities that make them feel whole. We’re excited to have the opportunity to deliver these benefits to more women here in the U.S. and soon throughout the world.”
— Axena Health’s Chief Medical Officer Samantha Pulliam, M.D.
“Urinary and fecal incontinence impose an enormous physical, psychological and economic toll for millions—probably hundreds of millions—of women worldwide. With AXA IM Alt’s support, the Leva device is now positioned to help ease this burden and improve outcomes for women dealing with these onerous, often debilitating conditions with an easy to use, effective technology. It’s a privilege to be part of it.”
— Shacey Petrovic, Board Member of Axena Health
