In each edition, we delve into the minds of those who are redefining the boundaries of health. Our goal is to share the insights and stories of those leading the way to achieve the highest attainable standard of health and wellbeing for everyone.

In this edition of Health Innovation Insider, we speak with Lara Zibners MD MMEd MBA, Co-Founder of Calla Lily Clinical Care, about her mission to transform the outcomes and experience of patients receiving treatments around fertility.

What is wrong with the way we have been administering medicines in fertility and women’s health?

There has been very little attention paid to how difficult, even painful, fertility treatment can be. Women who are desperate to have a baby will put up with just about anything. If we know that women’s pain is more likely to be dismissed and our emotional response to treatment is blown off as “hysteria,” then you can only imagine how much worse it is for women who are loathe to complain in such an emotionally charged way. For women’s health overall, we are now recognizing that women’s bodies respond differently to both disease and treatment. There may be side effects in women that don’t exist in men and vice versa. A holistic approach to medication that acknowledges a woman’s body is different is a start. Finding ways to make treatment for infertility, cancer, pre-term birth less traumatic for women would be another.

Please can you tell us about Calla Lily Clinical Care and how you are innovating in drug delivery?

At Calla Lily we have developed a leak-free patient-centric vaginal drug delivery platform. Many people don’t realize just how many therapeutics can and should be given vaginally. This is to get the right drug to the right spot without the risk of systemic side effects. However, most existing methods (such as gels, creams, pessaries and tablets) cause leakage that creates dosage uncertainty. With some medications, women are asked to lie down for an hour or more with every dose. By adapting our tampon-like scaffold to selectively deliver drug and absorb leakage, we can provide women with a better way to be treated while respecting their need to live life without fear of the drug not being absorbed.

In healthcare we can often be slow to change, what are the barriers stopping the adoption of new methods?

Funding. Regulation. Payer systems. It is a vicious cycle where investors are hesitant to put money into innovation without a guarantee that innovation will be incorporated into the healthcare system and reimbursed appropriately. If we could somehow fast-track that, it would de-risk a lot of healthcare investment. I also think people just don’t like change. You have to know which horse to bet on, so to speak. In medicine, in particular, there have been so many examples of new therapies that have later been found to be harmful when released on a much larger scale. You want to be very, very sure that patients will benefit before adopting change.

Please will you tell us a little bit more about you and your story?

I never thought that I would try to have a family, go through 7 failed rounds of IVF and then start a women’s healthcare company based on that experience but that is what happened. When I started IVF, I endured a number of very traumatic treatments, injected progesterone being the absolute worst. It was thick, oily, needed to go into a muscle via a large bore needle. I vividly remember steeling myself with every dose before injecting my hip. I was bruised and sore but I would never complain because that is just what I needed to do. Not only was I infertile, I am a doctor. I knew there wasn’t any other way. Fast forward nearly 16 years and I have 3 kids thanks to adoption and surrogacy. For a number of personal reasons, I moved away from clinical medicine and eventually decided to go back to school for my MBA. Even then I wasn’t sure what I would do with a business degree but then the opportunity to co-found Calla Lily arrived. I was an investor and advisor to the parent company which commercialized a period-care product. Given their robust drug-delivery patents and my own experience, we decided to pivot into healthcare and I joined as co-founder. My job is really to share my story and try to convince all stakeholders—investors, systems, healthcare providers—how important our mission is.

What is your big ask from the rest of the health community?

Amplify the cause. You never know where that guardian angel will come from. Of course we need investment but we also need opportunity. Speaking engagements, interviews, panel discussions…they all lead to more education about women’s health and the importance of investment in it. Women’s health is not just about women. It’s about society. Brothers, fathers, husbands, sons are all affected as well.

What do you think the women’s health landscape will look like 10 years from now?

I’m hoping we have equality. Women’s health is getting a lot of publicity and that is great. We have to bang the drum loudly and sometimes get into people’s faces. I write a lot of articles using the word “vagina” and it’s not because I like the sound of the word. You have to make a lot of noise to have certain words become commonplace enough that we can start to have conversations without people being afraid to use the word. Ten years from now, I hope we can speak about women’s—and men’s—health holistically and with respect.