Episode shownotes
Dr. Daisy Robinton, co-founder and CEO of Oviva Therapeutics, discusses the company's innovative approach to improving women's healthspan by targeting the biology of ovarian aging. Motivated by her personal experiences and the realization that female physiology is underserved by research and medicine, Daisy outlines how menopause is a key inflection point in the acceleration of aging in women. She explains the central role of anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) in regulating ovarian function and fertility. Oviva's lead program, a recombinant enhanced AMH protein, aims to improve IVF outcomes by synchronizing follicle growth. Excitingly, this approach could also preserve ovarian reserve to delay menopause onset, thereby extending female healthspan.
Key Topics Covered:
- Pivoting from developmental biology to found a women's health startup
- Ovaries as central regulators of female healthspan beyond reproduction
- AMH as a brake on follicle activation and loss of ovarian reserve
- Using enhanced AMH to improve egg yield in poor-responding IVF patients
- Potential of AMH-based therapy to delay menopause and slow aging
- Menopause as the single greatest known accelerator of aging
- Economic and societal impact of extending female healthspan
- Distinguishing reproductive longevity from overall women's health
- Viewing fertility as a marker of overall health and wellbeing