BRISBANE, Calif., and BASEL, Switzerland, Oct. 17, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Myovant Sciences (NYSE: MYOV), a healthcare company focused on developing innovative treatments for women's health and prostate cancer, announced today the formation of Female Forward Together, a cross-sector coalition bringing together expertise in healthcare, research, data science, digital health, and advocacy to improve women’s health. In addition to Myovant, founding members include:

• Evidation Health, a health and measurement company that helps life sciences companies understand how everyday behavior and health interact,
• Flo Health, a company developing Flo, the most popular mobile app for women’s health, and
• PERIOD. Inc., a youth-led, non-profit organization focused on menstrual equity.

As part of today’s announcement, the coalition launched femaleforwardtogether.com. The website features results from a digital health survey, conducted by Myovant and Evidation, to understand the impact of menstrual stigma and symptoms. Over 13,000 females and males elected to share their survey insights in a web-based report. Key survey results were separately announced today.

Lynn Seely, M.D., President and CEO of Myovant, commented:

“The status quo in women’s health is unacceptable. We need a new playbook to drive the change women need and deserve. That’s why we are proud to partner across sectors with these innovative organizations. This is just the beginning of our shared journey to transform women’s health, starting with menstruation.”

Christine Lemke, Co-Founder and President of Evidation, stated:

“It is hard to believe that in 2019 major gaps still exist in our understanding of something as fundamental as menstruation. These gaps reflect the underinvestment in women’s health and contribute to a lack of innovative solutions for women. We are optimistic that, through measurement, data science, and collaboration, we can make historic strides in women’s health.”

Kamila Staryga, Vice President of Product at Flo, said: “We are committed to creating technology that empowers women to understand their bodies and to advocate for better health and healthcare. We are excited to build on our existing collaboration with Myovant Sciences and join this coalition. We are confident a brighter future for women’s health is possible through partnership.”

Nadya Okamoto, Founder and Executive Director of PERIOD., added: “We cannot achieve full progress in women’s health if stigma around topics like menstruation remains pervasive. How are we supposed to talk about solutions to period poverty, if we can’t even talk about periods openly? By combining our expertise in advocacy with the expertise of the partners in this coalition, we can accelerate our mission to end stigma and achieve menstrual equity.”

Women represent more than half of the U.S. population yet are significantly underrepresented in health research and investment. Stigma surrounding women’s health issues is pervasive, delays women from seeking treatment, and could threaten lives. Female Forward Together will be a voice and an advocate for equitable research, improved education, and collective action. 

About Myovant Sciences
Myovant Sciences aspires to be the leading healthcare company focused on innovative treatments for women’s health and prostate cancer. The company’s lead product candidate is relugolix, a once-daily oral GnRH receptor antagonist. The company has three late-stage clinical programs for relugolix in uterine fibroids, endometriosis, and prostate cancer. The company is also developing MVT-602, an oligopeptide kisspeptin-1 receptor agonist, that has completed a Phase 2a study for the treatment of female infertility as part of assisted reproduction. Takeda Pharmaceuticals International AG granted the company an exclusive, worldwide license to develop and commercialize relugolix (excluding Japan and certain other Asian countries) and an exclusive license to develop and commercialize MVT-602 in all countries worldwide. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.myovant.com. Follow @Myovant on Twitter and LinkedIn.

About Evidation Health
Evidation Health is a new kind of health and measurement company that provides the world’s most innovative life sciences and health care companies the technology and expertise they need to understand how everyday behavior and health interact. The volume of behavior data generated from smartphones and connected sensors — including wearables and medical devices — has opened up new ways to analyze individuals’ behavior and health in real time, unlocking insights into what medicines and treatments work best and spotting significant changes in health earlier. The scale and utility of everyday behavior data has the potential to be one of the most transformative forces in medicine, and Evidation Health is leading the way.

Over the years, Evidation has built the largest, most diverse virtual pool of research participants through its proprietary and popular app, Achievement. With a direct and trusted relationship with more than 3 million individuals, its deep research expertise, and its data platform, Evidation can undertake real world research for life sciences and health care companies — and, ultimately, transform how health is measured and how diseases are identified, treated, and monitored. Founded in 2012, Evidation Health is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif., with additional offices in San Francisco and Santa Barbara, Calif. To learn more, visit evidation.com, or follow us on Twitter @evidation.

About Flo Health
Flo Health is the developer of Flo, the most popular women’s health app in the US and 100+ countries worldwide. Flo combines cutting-edge technology, scientific knowledge and the power of community to support women throughout their entire life, helping them to make better decisions about their health and wellbeing every day. With 30 million monthly active users and 100 million installs, Flo's vision is to significantly improve the health and wellbeing of every woman in the world, through first menstruation, cycle tracking, preparation for conception, pregnancy, early motherhood. 

Flo prioritizes safety and keeps a sharp focus on being the most trusted digital source for women's health information. Flo intensively uses data science and AI to deliver the most personalized content and services available. Flo is currently available in 20 languages on iOS and Android. For more information, please visit the company's website at flo.health.

About PERIOD. Inc.

PERIOD's mission is to end period poverty and stigma through service, education, and advocacy. Through a network of over 600 registered chapters in all 50 states PERIOD distributes menstrual products to people in need; educates to change the way people think, talk, and learn about periods; and advocates for systemic change to ensure equitable access to menstrual care. PERIOD was founded in 2014 by Nadya Okamoto and Vincent Forand when they were juniors in high school. Since then, PERIOD has served over 900,000 periods. For more information, please visit www.period.org.

Myovant Media Contact:
Albert Liao
Director, Corporate Communications
Myovant Sciences, Inc.
media@myovant.com

Evidation Media Contact:
Simon Brown
evidation@crosscutstrategies.com
202-792-7200

Flo Media Contact:
Kate Romanovskaia
Director, Brand & Communications
k_romanovskaia@flo.health

PERIOD. Media Contact:
Rachel Johnston
period@rebelliouspr.com

Source: Myovant Sciences, Inc.