Women’s sexual and reproductive health involves taboos that are often hard to break. Limited medical knowledge concerning women is the biggest barrier to fortifying their health. Identifying these barriers in women’s care, CEMAG Care has effectively overcome them and directed the care toward innovation.
The motto “Empowered for Care” reflects the core values and approach that guide CEMAG Care’s commitment to developing products addressing key women’s health issues, helping them manage their health more effectively and with greater autonomy.
Having been titled one of the “Most Innovative Companies to Watch 2024” by The CEO Views, CEMAG Care’s journey to women’s care stands as a testament to excellence and commitment.
Getting the Ball Rolling
Dr. André Ulmann, a renowned entrepreneur in Women’s Health, laid the first stone of CEMAG Care in 2016. With prior experience in establishing HRA Pharma (specializing in developing “morning after pills”) and commercializing two famous emergency contraception brands, Norlevo and EllaOne, Ulmann incepted CEMAG Care to bring innovation to women’s care. Under his visionary guidance, the company worked to empower women with its innovative health solutions.
An Incredible Story of Excellence in Women’s Care
Meeting the needs in women’s health, particularly sexual and reproductive health, CEMAG Care embarked on crafting its own products. It made its way to product development from the earliest stages of R&D to registration and commercialization, covering the entire product lifecycle.
CEMAG’s journey commenced with a cinnamon-based dressing product to treat malodorous wounds, Cinesteam®. It co-developed and co-patented this medical device with wound care experts from the Paris Curie Institute, having expertise in treating women with breast cancer and suffering from malodorous wounds.
Despite established wound care protocols, treating chronic wound odors remained challenging for available products due to their ineffectiveness. Drawing on scientific prove, CEMAG proposed this cinnamon-based dressing product effective to catch volatile organic compounds responsible for unpleasant odors, while emitting a pleasent cinnamon odor.
After five years of development, the company received the CE mark in 2020 and finally launched the product in Europe. Four years later, it received FDA approval, leading to the pre-launching of the product in 2024.
More than Just Solutions
CEMAG focuses on crafting healthcare solutions tailored to women’s needs. “Our aim is to improve access to innovative, effective, and easy-to-use therapeutic solutions for unmet and neglected women’s health needs in specific therapeutic areas: contraception, abortion, menstrual health, and quality of life,” adds Clémence Desjardin, COO of CEMAG Care.
Following its first discovery, CEMAG started developing two additional products in parallel with the cinnamon-based dressing. Going beyond the boundaries of product development, the company strived to offer more than just solutions. Its innovative and patented copper IUD (intrauterine device) is revolutionary. Designed with an atraumatic, smooth inserter, this product, YANAE®, ensures a painless insertion procedure. It obtained the CE mark in 2022 and launched in France in the same year and in Canada at the end of 2024. YANAE® will be launched in several EU countries in Q1 of 2025.
The formulation of tranexamic acid to treat heavy menstrual bleeding is another innovative solution of CEMAG. This novel micro-granule-based formulation, NEXAG®, coupled with specific tranexamic acid dosage, effectively treats heavy menstrual bleeding. It received market authorization in October 2023 across various European countries, including France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, and Spain, marking its first market authorization as an internally developed unique drug also currently under registration in the UK.
Building Bridges
CEMAG finds cultural and societal stigmas associated with the Femtech industry as one of the biggest challenges. Concepts such as menstruation, abortion, or menopause are still taboo despite the necessity of addressing them as unmet medical needs. As the needs are highly specific, the solutions are considered to be niche products. Also, the Pharma industry has a pre-determined perception that women’s health products are less profitable. These are some of the most significant barriers that CEMAG overcame by actively demystifying the myths about women’s health. The company empowered women to speak freely about their needs to improve their daily care experience and quality of life.
Going the Extra Mile
The company’s approach to securing women’s health involves the identification of specific unaddressed needs and developing a multifactorial and patient-based approach to design products as per those needs. Going the extra mile, CEMAG Care integrates patient experience, such as easiness of use or perceived feeling of the patients during the medical examination, into the target product profile. Clémence shares, “We truly believe that healthcare improvement must be integrated in a holistic approach.”
Transforming Women’s Care
Establishing long-term collaboration with NGOs, the company is co-developing new products and aims to ensure the distribution in low and medium-income countries through its network. While working with the NGOs, the company is not only providing products for post-market clinical studies but also for treatment continuity whenever required.
Positioning in the Future
To future-proof CEMAG Care, the company is tackling key industry challenges. By addressing the unmet needs of women, it is developing innovative women’s health products. Additionally, CEMAG is enhancing access to effective and affordable healthcare by creating practical and accessible solutions, such as copper IUDs.
CEMAG is committed to staying at the forefront of innovation to ensure a sustainable future for the company. By investing in research and development, the firm is creating cutting-edge, new treatment options that are transforming the women’s care landscape globally. It works with medical experts and institutions to make its innovation scientifically sound and practically usable for patients. By developing products that fit the needs, personal choices, and expectations of women, CEMAG is offering them the possibility to control their health and bodies.
