Lumino, UK-based digital therapeutics company awarded funding to develop menopausal support programme
Understanding the impact of menopause
In the UK, 2.5 million people suffer significant and sometimes debilitating symptoms as a result of menopause. With hot flushes, night sweats, anxiety and sleep problems often lasting seven years or more, symptoms associated with the hormonal changes of menopause can severely impact the mental health.
50% of women surveyed shared that menopause had impacted their mental health and 60% said it has affected them at work.
Seren, a therapeutic app-based tool, has been designed to help those dealing with menopause symptoms by using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
CBT is a recommended treatment option by the British Menopause Society but receiving CBT can often prove challenging. Seren makes CBT much more affordable and accessible so that many more people can benefit from treatment.
Health Innovation East has been working with Lumino to pilot Seren in the East of England and played an important role in facilitating the relationship between Lumino and Bayer by completing a horizon scan which identified Seren as an ideal programme for Bayer to support as part of their G4A accelerator programme.
Lumino co-founder, Becky Cotton, also received support from Health Innovation East on her successful application to Bayer.
“Support from Health Innovation East has unlocked so many doors for Lumino and this partnership with Bayer marks another great milestone in the development of Seren as we build the future of menopause care. We’re so excited to be doing that in partnership with a truly global leader in women’s healthcare and we are grateful to Health Innovation East for helping to make this partnership happen.”
Becky Cotton, Lumino co-founder
“Effective management of menopause symptoms is an issue of health equality; up to a third of women will experience severe menopausal symptoms that can impact on their quality of life, yet many women do not consult a healthcare professional about their symptoms. We are delighted to have supported the partnership between Bayer and Lumino to further develop Seren to ensure there is accessible support to meet the mental health needs of women experiencing menopause.”
Dr Sarah Robinson, Director of Delivery, Health Innovation East.
About Lumino
Founded by Becky Cotton and Mo Morgan, Lumino is on a mission to bring better mental health to everyone by reinventing how mental health treatment is delivered, through developing scalable, evidence-based digital therapeutic programmes. Lumino are on Cambridge Judge Business School’s Accelerate Cambridge incubator programme having completed the Cambridge Social Ventures incubator programme.
Lumino is recruiting beta testers ahead of its first pilot. Sign up to be the first to try Seren.
Statistics in this article are sourced from the Seren website
To find out more about Lumino, please contact Jane McCormack, Senior Programme Lead at Health Innovation East, at jane.mccormack@healthinnovationeast.co.uk. If you have an idea with the potential to have a positive health impact, we want to hear from you.
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