MV.Health Raises £2.9M to Develop Medical Devices for Underserved Sexual Health Conditions
October 22, 2024
MV.Health, a UK medical device company, has raised £2.9 million to develop and commercialise a range of medical devices for sexual health conditions. The company's products target conditions including erectile dysfunction and dyspareunia (painful sex) — conditions that affect tens of millions of people globally, generate significant distress and relationship impact, and have historically been treated primarily through pharmacological approaches or referred to specialist care pathways with long waiting times and limited availability.
Sexual health is a significantly underserved area of medical device development. The combination of social stigma, limited research funding, and the fragmentation of care between primary care, urology, gynaecology, and psychology has meant that device-based interventions — which in other areas of medicine have transformed treatment options — have not been developed with the same investment or urgency for sexual health indications. Yet the need is substantial: erectile dysfunction affects an estimated 40-70% of men over 40 and is associated with cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes, and neurological conditions that make it both common and medically significant. Dyspareunia affects a significant proportion of women and has multiple aetiologies including hormonal changes, pelvic floor dysfunction, and vulvodynia, with few well-evidenced device treatments available.
MV.Health is developing devices that address these conditions through physical mechanisms — electrostimulation, therapeutic pressure, or other modalities — that complement or provide alternatives to pharmaceutical treatments. Physical devices can be particularly valuable for patients who cannot take or prefer not to use pharmacological treatments, or whose conditions have a primarily physical rather than hormonal or psychological aetiology.
The funding will support device development, clinical validation, and regulatory submission for the company's initial products, as well as building the clinical and commercial partnerships needed to distribute devices through appropriate healthcare channels.
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