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Luka Doncic dominant in Mavericks win over Kings

LUKA DONCIC capped a 34-point, 20-rebound, 12-assist triple-double with a basket inside to break a tie with 1:57 remaining in overtime Tuesday afternoon as the Dallas Mavericks outlasted the Sacramento Kings for a 114-110 victory.

Tim Hardaway, Jr. had six of his 22 points in the extra session, helping the Mavericks (41-29) win for the first time in three tries in the National Basketball Association bubble.

De’Aaron Fox went for a team-high 28 points for the Kings (28-39), who fell to the brink of elimination in the Western Conference playoff race with a third straight defeat since the restart.

A Buddy Hield 3-pointer gave Sacramento a 102-99 lead with 3:30 left in overtime before Hardaway was fouled on a 3-point attempt and converted three straight free throws for the game’s final tie at 102-all.

Doncic then connected on his go-ahead hoop and Maxi Kleber then hit a 3-pointer with 1:22 to go, propelling the Mavericks to the win.

The Kings got threes from Hield and Bogdan Bogdanovic in the final 10 seconds to close within 112-110, but Trey Burke nailed two free throws with 4.4 seconds remaining to ice Dallas’ win.

The Kings led almost the entire regulation, using nine first-quarter 3-pointers to build a 37-27 advantage after 12 minutes. Hield (three), Fox (two) and Cory Joseph (two) combined for seven of the early threes.

The Mavericks rallied into a 52-all tie on a pair of free throws by Kristaps Porzingis with 2:46 remaining in the half, but then never drew even again until Kleber hit one of two foul shots with 1:52 remaining, squaring the score at 95-all.

The teams combined for seven missed shots and a turnover over the scoreless final 1:52 of regulation. Fox missed three of the shots, including a buzzer-beating 18-footer.

Doncic’s triple-double was his league-leading 16th of the season, while his 20 rebounds were a career-high, eclipsing his previous best of 18 set against New Orleans in December.

Porzingis matched Hardaway with 22 points, while Dorian Finney-Smith collected a career-high 16 rebounds to complement 16 points.

Fox added a team-high nine assists for the Kings, who outshot the Mavericks 41.3% to 36.7%.

Hield added 21 points and Kent Bazemore 16 for Sacramento, while Nemanja Bjelica had a double-double with 12 points and a team-high 13 rebounds.

Jackson out for season

Meanwhile, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., the team’s second-leading scorer, will miss the remainder of the season with torn meniscus in his left knee, the team announced.

In his second NBA season, the 20-year-old Jackson averaged 17.4 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, hitting nearly 40% of his 3-point shots. In the Grizzlies’ three games in the NBA’s bubble near Orlando since the season restart (all Memphis losses), Jackson averaged 25.3 points. — Reuters

Adamson looks to bounce back after tough Season 82

By Michael Angelo S. Murillo, Senior Reporter

FOLLOWING a tough Season 82 at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines, the Adamson Soaring Falcons are looking to bounce back this year, armed with more experience and better understanding of who they are as a team.

Missed the final four last year after making three straight appearances in it previously, the Falcons admit it was a learning experience for them and that they hope to be able to regroup and get back on track.

“Last year was difficult for us precisely because we have a very young team, it was a very young team, no experience but the players showed flashes of brilliance. Hopefully, this year will be different,” said Adamson coach Franz Pumaren in his recent session with the Tiebreaker Vods’ Coaches Unfiltered podcast.

Last year, the San Marcelino-based school ended with a 4-10 record, tied for sixth place with the University of the East Red Warriors.

The Falcons never really got to soar as much as they wanted to, particularly in the pivotal second round of the eliminations where they only got one win in their seven matches.

Mr. Pumaren said it was just unfortunate that they were not able to sustain the momentum they had in the previous years but he remains bullish of being able to steer his team to better compete in Season 83.

Currently the Falcons, the Adamson coach said, are on a break because of the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

While he would have loved to be practicing and training now, he understands the current situation, which is why he is just encouraging his players to keep themselves fit and spend time with their families before they plunge back to their preparation when conditions permit to do so.

Mr. Pumaren said the push remains for them, which is to continue developing their players who would lead them to success.

One player they are looking to work on is 6’2” Ateneo juniors player Joaquin Jaymalin, who has committed to play for Adamson.

“He (Jaymalin) will be a part of our team this season and I’m expecting him to grow an inch or two and he’s been under the radar because of course Ateneo’s been a solid team, probably their rotation is still solid but one thing for sure, he can shoot. I’ve watched him, I think he’s a welcome addition on our part and I’m confident we can develop him to a better all-around,” Mr. Pumaren said.

He is also high on the continued development of guard Jerom Lastimosa, who shared time at the point guard spot in Season 82 with one-and-done player Val Chauca.

“I think everybody will be surprised come next year. I assure you that he will surprise a lot and people will start talking about Lastimosa next year,” said Mr. Pumaren.

Still part of the team are Jerrick Ahanmisi, Aaron Fermin, Lenda Douanga and Joem Sabandal. The team, however, lost in the offseason long-time Pumaren deputy Jack Santiago, who is now the head coach of UE.

The start of UAAP Season 83, hosted by De La Salle University, is still to be determined with COVID-19 still a concern but the league is looking at rolling out early in 2021.

45 LSGH scholar-athletes get to keep their scholarships

WHILE conduct of sports in the country is currently grounded because of the coronavirus disease pandemic, La Salle Green Hills has made sure its scholar-athletes are taken care of by honoring scholarships granted to them amid the tough times.

Competing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) juniors division, 45 scholar-athletes of LSGH are assured of being able to continue with their studies despite the cancellation of various tournaments.

LSGH Athletic Scholarships are granted to qualified students who are recruited and who have shown remarkable performance in the previous seasons of the NCAA Juniors Tournaments.

They are currently enrolled in the Flexible Lasallian Education through Technology and Collaboration at Home (FLETCH), the learner-driven collaborative experience presented through home-based online learning in the first semester and blended learning in the second and third semester.

The scholar-athletes are part the school’s 700 student-athletes, from grades 1 to 12, in 14 sports including archery, basketball, baseball, badminton, chess, football, golf, karatedo, lawn tennis, swimming, taekwondo, table tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

LSGH Sports Program and Development Office Head Marvin Bienvenida said that the decision to keep their roster of scholar-athletes was the right move, especially since their mission is to make quality education accessible to more people.  

“We take pride in their academic standards and achievements. Having them allows us to stay true to our mission of making education accessible amid these trying times,” Mr. Bienvenida said in a statement.

“By supporting them to continue, they are afforded with the opportunity to further develop themselves, their knowledge, and their skills, which they will use not only to improve their lives but to be of service to God and the society,” he added.

LSGH, however, said that it is suspending the recruitments for this school year to give priority to the current athletes but is eyeing opening different sports clubs open to currently enrolled LSGH students, so it can scout promising prospects.

Current student-athletes from LSGH have been steadily making names for themselves, among them Jalil Taguinod, who is a member of the Philippine National Swimming Team, and footballers Troy Limbo and Kyle Magdato, who competed in the previous Southeast Asian Games

LSGH has produced some world-class athletes throughout the years like legendary Filipino bowler Paeng Nepomuceno and Olympians Luis Gabriel Moreno of archery and Stephen Fernandez of taekwondo. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Tiger, McIlroy and Thomas grouped together at PGA Championship

SAN FRANCISCO — Two former world number ones will play alongside the game’s freshly crowned top player when Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas go out as a group in the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park this week.

Woods, who has played once since the PGA Tour resumed in June, is seeking his 16th major and fifth PGA Championship title but the 44-year-old is an underdog given concerns about how his surgically repaired back will react to the cool San Francisco weather.

World number three McIlroy won his fourth major six years ago and has said quarantine gave him the chance to focus on again winning the sport’s biggest prizes, starting with the PGA Championship followed by the US Open and Masters in the fall.

Thomas comes into the tournament as the hottest commodity in golf, having won three events this year including the FedEx St. Jude Invitational on Sunday to regain the top spot, which he held for four weeks in 2018.

He is one of the early favorites to hoist the Wanamaker Trophy for a second time after taking the title in 2017.

Another star-studded group comprises twice defending champion Brooks Koepka, last year’s US Open champion Gary Woodland and the 2019 British Open winner Irishman Shane Lowry.

Jordan Spieth, who could complete a career grand slam by adding a PGA Championship, will play alongside ex-world number one Dustin Johnson and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose.

The first major of the year, originally scheduled for May before the COVID-19 pandemic hit sports, will play out at the challenging municipal course known for its towering Cypress trees, thick rough, narrow fairways and cool coastal fog in the summer months.

The tournament will take place without fans due to the novel coronavirus. — Reuters

REBEL Fighting Championship adds ‘top guns’ to its fold

SOUTHEAST Asia-based mixed martial arts promotion REBEL Fighting Championship fortified further its organization by adding accomplished individuals to key positions.

In an announcement, REBEL FC, a dynamic fightainment company, said Vivian Xia and Ophelia Yao are now part of its group and will play key roles as the company continues with its push of bringing to the fore the promotion’s brand of mixed martial arts action.

The two will be deeply involved, among other things, in REBEL FC’s vision of having a full-fledged MMA reality show in China.

Ms. Xia joins REBEL FC as sponsorship director. She spent most of her career from 1999 to 2018 — 16 years — at The Nielsen Company, a global marketing research firm headquartered in New York.

With Nielsen she helped build up a sports and entertainment department for the company from 2016 to 2018 as associate director. The new department is responsible for the business and product developments of the sports industry in China.

From 2018, Ms. Xia went on to join OCEANS Sports & Entertainment Inc. as its vice-president. OCEANS is one of the leading sports marketing agencies in China specializing in integrated sports marketing, event organization and promotion, sponsorship development, and building relevant relationships across China’s fast-growing sports industry.

Ms. Yao, meanwhile, is now REBEL FC’s sponsorship manager. She has experience from IMG, a global events and talent management company headquartered in New York,under Endeavor Group Holdings. Endeavor is best known for acquiring UFC in 2016 for $4 billion.

At IMG, Ms. Yao was Sales Support & Client Servicing Manager at IMG Golf Asia, focusing on client relations and servicing for the WGC-HSBC Champions project, building corporate partnerships with Mercedes Benz, WeChat, Dell and TutorABC.

“It is an honor for me and Ophelia to be a witness and participant in innovative sports marketing with REBEL FC’s planned reality show. I think it is an exciting platform to communicate MMA as a professional sport in the language of mass entertainment that will resonate with the mass audience in China. The attributes of MMA conveyed through the reality show can encourage positive thinking and enterprising fighting spirit as well as revitalising national pride in everyone in China,” said Ms. Xia.

REBEL FC was founded in 2013 and has steadily made a name for itself in the MMA scene.

Filipino fighters have been competing in the promotion, among them lightweight fighters Jaypee Espinosa and Reydon Romero, who saw action at “REBEL FC 9: Return of the Champion” in Shanghai in September. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo

Gargling solution flies off Japan’s shelves after governor touts anti-virus effect

TOKYO — Japanese drugstores were stripped bare of gargling solution by Wednesday, a day after the governor of the western prefecture of Osaka suggested it could help fight coronavirus, triggering panic buying reminiscent of the early days of mask shortages.

Hundreds of thousands of people posted pictures of emptied shelves on Twitter, accompanied by handwritten “Out of Stock” notices, as they canvassed suggestions on how to acquire the coveted antiseptic.

“Anyone else having trouble buying gargling medicine? I’m coming to four misses now,” wrote one user, @shotaro_1117, who posted images of four cleaned-out shelves.

On Tuesday, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said a study showed a smaller viral load in the saliva of 41 patients with mild symptoms after regular gargling with a medicine infused with povidone-iodine solution than in those who had not.

“Perhaps we can even overcome the coronavirus with gargling medicine,” he told a mid-afternoon news conference, speaking of the study on those convalescing in regional hotels which was released by an Osaka hospital.

As the Japanese official spoke, shares of Meiji Holdings Co , which sells a popular medicine previously marketed as Isojin, skyrocketed, gaining as much as 7.7% by late on Tuesday.

The shares were down 4% on Wednesday, but more than 1.2 million tweets had employed the hashtag #Isojin by afternoon.

As governments worldwide have struggled to rein in the virus, which has killed nearly 700,000 people and infected more than 18 million, some in authority have seized on any treatment seeming to offer a glimmer of hope.

For example, US President Donald Trump has persistently promoted the unproven drug hydroxychloroquine as successful in treating the virus, and in April, he asked publicly if injecting disinfectant might help.

Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said he was aware of the Osaka governor’s comments, including the fact that researchers would try to determine if the ingredient could keep disease symptoms from worsening.

“The government will closely watch developments of the research,” Mr. Suga told a news conference.

Some experts were sceptical, however.

“I think these kinds of claims might even lead to a high number of false negatives for PCR tests,” pharmacist and medical writer Shuichi Aoshima wrote on Twitter, adding that tests after use of the germicide would register lower levels of the virus. “It’s the same as dripping povidone-iodine onto a virus sample.” — Reuters

Virus fears keep shoppers away in consumer-reliant Philippines

Even when restrictions were loosened in June and July, however, mobility data suggest Filipinos continued to avoid malls and restaurants more than their Southeast Asian peers. — PHILSTAR/MICHAEL VARCAS

In the Philippines, signs of an economic crisis abound: empty malls, buy-one-get-one-free car deals, and restaurants closing permanently.

With coronavirus cases spiking, the government this week reimposed stricter containment measures on the capital region, which represents about one-third of the nation’s economy. Even when restrictions were loosened in June and July, however, mobility data suggest Filipinos continued to avoid malls and restaurants more than their Southeast Asian peers.

Virus-damped demand is crippling what was once among Asia’s fastest-growing, consumption-led economies. Gross domestic product probably shrank 9.4% in the second quarter, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists ahead of Thursday’s data release.

“The government needs to be able to flatten the curve,” said Nicholas Mapa, senior economist at ING Groep NV in Manila. “Unless it has demonstrably showed that the virus is under control, we won’t be able to get back closer to where we were before.”

Instead, new infections have repeatedly set daily records over the past week as the outbreak in the Philippines has become the second-worst in Southeast Asia. Four out of five Filipinos are afraid of catching the virus, a Social Weather Stations survey showed.

One of them is Roda Cris, 30, an accountant who used to commute an hour each way to her job in Manila’s business district but now works from home. Since March, she has barely left the house other than for necessities like groceries or prescriptions.

“We have four kids under nine years old and a senior citizen undergoing chemotherapy at home —all are very susceptible to the virus,” she said. “It was a conscious decision to stay at home to protect them.”

With consumption making up more than 70% of the Philippine economy, according to the World Bank, that personal sense of caution is having a big impact.

“It’s not just government lockdowns. Voluntary restrictions add pressure on consumer spending,” said Eugenia Victorino, head of Asia strategy at Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB in Singapore. “This leaves a big hole.”

‘DISMAL’ OUTLOOK
Business owners like Rosa Concepcion know the problem well: The lack of foot traffic has kept her from reopening her cafe in a suburban Manila mall. She’s hoping delivery apps can save the business, but competition has stiffened as many shops go online, while consumers hesitate to spend amid a wave of job losses.

“If it were just our capital on the line, we would probably have pulled out already,” but her workers depend on her for their livelihoods, Ms. Concepcion said. “Our outlook is very dismal.”

President Rodrigo R. Duterte is pitching targeted support for pandemic-hit industries and a $160-billion infrastructure program to boost growth. Some $400 million will be set aside to buy vaccines when they become available, while the government said it’s boosting contact tracing and adding isolation facilities to curb the virus’s spread.

Given citizens’ reluctance to venture out, the Philippines may be among the slowest economies in Asia to return to pre-pandemic growth levels, said Makoto Tsuchiya, an economist at Oxford Economics Ltd. “Persistently rising COVID-19 cases raise the risk of an economic relapse,” he said. — Bloomberg

Microsoft’s rescue attempt of TikTok endears old company to new generation

Microsoft has emerged as a savior to young users of TikTok, who praised the tech industry giant for trying to buy parts of the social media company’s operations, in hopes of avoiding a US shutdown.

Bearing hashtags like #SaveTikTok and #Microsoft, which have attracted nearly 1 billion views combined, TikTok’ers—an overwhelmingly young group that uses the app to create short dance, lip-sync, comedy and talent videos—embraced a company founded by people their grandparent’s age and whose former chief executive’s pre-Internet-era onstage outbursts and profuse sweating are now a YouTube meme.

A look at Microsoft’s track record on recent acquisitions, including building game Minecraft in 2014 and business networking site LinkedIn in 2016, could validate TikTok users’ optimism, analysts said.

In recent years, Microsoft has taken a hands-off approach to integrating new acquisitions, said Mike Vorhaus, chief executive of Vorhaus Advisors, a digital media consulting firm. For example, Microsoft left Minecraft’s team operating in Europe, he said.

“You don’t want to lose (TikTok’s) secret sauce, but you want them to gain from Microsoft,” he said.

Microsoft has largely abandoned its historic practice of tying all of its products back to its Windows operating system or other properties. Minecraft apps have no obvious connection to Microsoft. Its sales have quadrupled over the six years since it was acquired and it now reaches 126 million monthly users.

Under Satya Nadella, who took over as Microsoft CEO in 2014, the company purchased two large online communities that it has allowed to operate essentially autonomously. After acquiring business-oriented network LinkedIn for $26.2 billion, LinkedIn kept its brand identity, CEO and its own offices, while GitHub, the code-repository service acquired in 2018, has continued to build tools that help developers use Microsoft’s rivals.

JT Casey, a TikTok user with 2.8 million followers, said he was initially worried about the idea of Microsoft’s ownership, but concluded there is a potential change that could benefit video creators.

“I realized Microsoft will figure out a way to monetize better, which will lead to creators making more money, as well as Microsoft,” he said.

TIME RUNNING OUT
While TikTok’s fans are lauding Microsoft for coming to the rescue after President Donald Trump threatened a ban over concerns with how the Chinese-owned company handled user data, they are considering other options.

Dmitri Robinson, a 20-year-old TikTok user with more than 270,000 followers, said short-form video apps Triller and Byte are seen as the top two contenders for the next hottest app among conversations with friends and videos he has seen on TikTok.

On Friday, when Mr. Trump told reporters he planned to ban TikTok as soon as that weekend, downloads for four TikTok rivals—Triller, Byte, Dubsmash, and Likee—all spiked on Sunday, according to data from Apptopia. Daily downloads in the United States for Triller on Sunday almost doubled to nearly 62,000.

Facebook Inc.’s Instagram is also readying the global launch of its TikTok rival, called Reels, which first debuted in Brazil in November. — Reuters

Scientists inspired by ‘Star Wars’ create artificial skin able to feel

SINGAPORE — Singapore researchers have developed “electronic skin” capable of recreating a sense of touch, an innovation they hope will allow people with prosthetic limbs to detect objects, as well as feel texture, or even temperature and pain.

The device, dubbed ACES, or Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin, is made up of 100 small sensors and is about a square centimeter (0.16 square inch) in size.

The researchers at the National University of Singapore say it can process information faster than the human nervous system, is able to recognise 20 to 30 different textures and can read Braille letters with more than 90% accuracy.

“So humans need to slide to feel texture, but in this case the skin, with just a single touch, is able to detect textures of different roughness,” said research team leader Benjamin Tee, adding that AI algorithms let the device learn quickly.

A demonstration showed the device could detect that a squishy stress ball was soft, and determine that a solid plastic ball was hard.

“When you lose your sense of touch, you essentially become numb… and prosthetic users face that problem,” said Mr. Tee.

“So by recreating an artificial version of the skin, for their prosthetic devices, they can hold a hand and feel the warmth and feel that it is soft, how hard are they holding the hand,” said Mr. Tee.

Mr. Tee said the concept was inspired by a scene from the “Star Wars” movie trilogy in which the character Luke Skywalker loses his right hand and it is replaced by a robotic one, seemingly able to experience touch sensations again.

The technology is still in the experimental stage, but there had been “tremendous interest,” especially from the medical community, Mr. Tee added.

Similar patents developed by his team include a transparent skin that can repair itself when torn and a light-emitting material for wearable electronic devices, Mr. Tee said. — Reuters

The little luxuries people can’t give up—even in a pandemic

Before the pandemic, Levi Fedley would bike to one of Melbourne’s famous laneway cafes, sit down with the perfect cup of coffee and watch the world go by.

Now, with Australia’s second biggest city back in lockdown, takeaway is the only option. It’s now a hurried matter of picking it up without touching anyone or anything, and a speedy return home. But his daily long black—an espresso topped up with hot water—is even more essential.

“It’s a ritual,” the 30-year-old marketing professional said by phone. “It’s a very minimal and justifiable luxury.”

Around the world, people are grasping onto their sacrosanct daily pleasures, moments of near normality in an otherwise upended world. Although cafes in commuter areas and city centers are suffering while workers stay home, consumers are finding their fix in local neighborhoods.

In London, there were plenty of customers Saturday enjoying an afternoon drink in the garden of The Gatehouse in Highgate. Pubs in the UK reopened in early July after being closed for three months. Rich Tasker, sipping an IPA, said he’d had his first pint a few weeks earlier at a countryside pub. A guest ale named Normality caught his eye.

“It was quite satisfying to ask for ‘a pint of Normality please,’” he said. “And sip a nice, cold drink in the sunshine with a Sunday roast after four months of lockdown. It felt great.”

Cutting out fancy, artisanal coffees to save money has been a cliché of budgeting advice for a decade. Drop the daily cup, the advice goes, you won’t miss it and over the course of the year just watch your bank balance tick up.

The savings would be relatively minimal, but what this advice also misses is just how much people around the world value their daily pleasures. “It is keeping people sane,” said Mr. Fedley, the Melbourne coffee drinker. “I think there are far more things to cut back on before you start questioning coffee habits.”

After an initial devastating hit, customers are also returning to the big chains. US giants Starbucks Corp. and McDonald’s Corp. both said last week that same-store sales turned positive in July.

“What customers are looking for right now are experiences that are safe, familiar and convenient,” Starbucks Chief Executive Officer Kevin Johnson told Bloomberg TV. “That’s what’s going to drive this recovery,” he said, predicting that US sales would be back to pre-COVID levels by March.

What’s more, while transactions are down, average amount spent per visit is actually increasing, Mr. Johnson said.

At-home brewing saves money—an A$60 ($43) bag from bespoke coffee roaster St Ali works out at roughly A$0.42 per shot, compared with the A$5 you’d pay inside. It can’t replicate the experience.

In San Diego, California, a burrito is the perfect end to a long day of surfing or swimming. Roberto’s Taco Shop serves its popular California burrito—filled with french fries, carne asada, sour cream and cheddar cheese—at a number of locations along the coast.

Thanks to loyal customers, business has remained steady throughout the pandemic, and the restaurant didn’t have to lay off workers, said co-owner Reynaldo Robledo, the son of the restaurant’s founder.

Those customers include Grace Furnari, who has been twice already since she moved back to the area in July. “Roberto’s feels like a luxury because it gives me a break from cooking at home —and a good reason to leave the house,” she said.

In tropical Singapore, the local obsession is bubble tea: sweet, milky tea shaken with ice and chewy tapioca balls. As the city prepared to go back into lockdown in late April, long queues formed across the island with locals determined to get that final hit.

Justin Teh, 48, co-owns the Forbidden Tea shop in Marymount, a green, family-friendly part of the city. He said they saw a renewed burst in demand when they were allowed to open up in June. While things are now calmer, they are still seeing a steady flow of customers, he said.

“Because we can’t travel right now, there’s a sense of a void needing to be filled, and for some people, little luxuries like bubble tea, hot pots, staycations hit the spot,” Teh said. “It’s the next best thing you can do.” — Bloomberg

Femtech addresses the global market for women’s health

By Patricia B. Mirasol

The rise of “femtech” has been a long time coming given that women make up half of the global population and their higher spending power is pushing the “she-conomy.” 

Femtech, which refers to the intersection between women’s health and technology, includes fertility solutions, period-tracking apps, pregnancy and nursing care, women’s sexual wellness, and reproductive system healthcare. It also addresses illnesses that disproportionately affect women, such as Alzheimer’s.

Previously sidelined as a niche market, the growth of femtech coincides with an increase in the inclusivity of women in clinical research and product development. The healthcare industry recognizes that there is a difference between women’s health and men’s health. No longer can women’s health be subsumed in a framework that treats the male as the default. 

Femtech is estimated by research and consulting firm Frost & Sullivan to have a market potential of $50 billion by 2025. 

WOMEN’S HEALTH SOLUTIONS
The term “femtech”—coined by Ida Tin, founder of the period tracking app Clue—has yet to gain currency in some corners of the world even if women-centric applications have been around for a few years. 

Said Louise, a 30-year-old Filipina, “I’ve been using the period tracker Glow for three years now. Tracking my period has helped me check my polycystic ovarian syndrome symptoms; I can easily check whether my symptoms are improving or not depending on the timing of my monthly period. It has also helped me in my annual check-up as well as in my overall reproductive health check.” Added Claire, another Filipina user of “Using Flo has been a very empowering experience for me, as it allows me to understand my body better and manage my calendar well.”

Other examples of femtech applications include: 


Reproductive health

• Clue – helps women understand their cycles through with a period and ovulation tracker mobile phone app

• Ava – helps women who want to get pregnant through a sensor bracelet that detects a woman’s fertile window every month

Pregnancy and nursing care

• Bonzun – offers an in vitro fertilization (IVF) system and service in the world that follows, supports, and guides the IVF patient through the whole process of conceiving a baby.

• Naya – offers a hospital-grade breast pump plus an app to track pump sessions, feeding sessions, and a mother’s sleep and hydration

Pelvic and uterine health

• Elvie –  delivers products such as a Kegel trainer for stronger pelvic floor muscles

• Minerva Surgical – delivers products for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding

General wellness

• Braster – provides a medical device for comfortable in-home breast examination

• MobileODT – provides a colposcope and enhanced visual assessment solution for colposcopy, sexual assault, and gynecologic examinations

PANDEMIC AS ACCELERATOR
Because of the pandemic, people are focusing on their health and prioritizing their wellbeing. With healthcare systems flooded with COVID-19 patients, people are less willing to go to hospitals but are more willing to look after their own health, noted Jacqueline Kressner, co-founder of Femcy, a personalized menstrual wellness solution for women in Asia. “People are still wanting to get pregnant and manage their menstrual wellness; that never goes away,” said Ms. Kressner, adding that femtech allows women to monitor their health at home.

In Australia, femtech advocates were worried that they would lose momentum because of the coronavirus. “The first month of the pandemic really threw the industry for the loop, but innovators in the space were able to easily pivot to accommodate new health restrictions,” said Megan Capriccio, Sydney ambassador to the FemTech Collective and director of FemTech Consulting. 

Telehealth services, at-home subscription box services, and software applications, Ms. Capriccio added, benefited from the new normal.

EMERGING MARKET
In the Philippines, femtech has room to grow. “Developers build products and services to solve problems they see in the world. If there aren’t enough women at the helm in the tech community, it follows you won’t see enough solutions designed for women,” said Santiago Arnaiz, co-founder and COO of health and wellness venture builder Day3 Innovations. 

Underfunding is another factor that should be considered: the femtech industry attracts only 1.4% of the aggregated capital that flows into healthcare. As Tania Boler, co-founder & CEO of Elvie, said, “Investors don’t take women’s wearable tech as seriously as they need to. But given that the consumer need is so big, I think it’s going to hit them on the head at some point.”

Christina Jenkins, lead investor at Portfolia Femtech Fund, told Forbes earlier this year: “The best femtech business models will answer the question, ‘What will compel women to spend money on themselves, and not just others?’” 

Both Ms. Capriccio and Ms. Kressner said that part of the answer lies in products that allow women to feel empowered, stronger, and better equipped to show up for themselves and their loved ones. FemTech can disrupt the women’s health market—there are plenty of unmet needs waiting for a solution.

Novavax coronavirus vaccine induces immune response in early study, shares jump

Novavax Inc. said on Tuesday its experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced high levels of antibodies against the novel coronavirus, according to initial data from a small, early-stage clinical trial, sending the company’s shares up 10%.

The company said it could start a large pivotal Phase III trial as soon as late September, and on a conference call added that it could produce 1 billion to 2 billion doses of the vaccine in 2021.

Novavax research chief Gregory Glenn told Reuters the late-stage clinical trial could potentially glean enough data to obtain regulatory approvals as early as December.

Maryland-based Novavax said its vaccine candidate, NVX-CoV2373, produced higher levels of the antibodies in healthy volunteers after two doses than those found in recovered COVID-19 patients, raising hopes for its eventual success.

The addition of the company’s Matrix-M adjuvant, a substance designed to boost the body’s immune response, did enhance the effect of the vaccine in the study, the company said.

The Novavax vaccine is among the first of a handful of programs singled out for US funding under Operation Warp Speed, the White House program to accelerate access to vaccines and treatments that can fight the virus.

Effective vaccines and treatments are considered essential to halting a pandemic that has claimed more than 695,000 lives worldwide.

Novavax’s vaccine contains synthesized pieces of the surface protein that the coronavirus uses to invade human cells, spurring production of antibodies to fight the infection.

The US government in July agreed to pay Novavax $1.6 billion to help cover costs related to testing and manufacturing the vaccine, with the aim of procuring 100 million doses by January 2021.

The trial, which started in late May, tested the vaccine in 106 subjects aged 18 to 59 versus a placebo. The Phase I study looked at the vaccine’s safety and ability to induce immune responses.

It tested 5 microgram and 25 microgram doses of the vaccine, with and without the adjuvant. The company said it would likely move forward with the lower dose.

Eight study participants experienced adverse side effects after receiving a second vaccine dose during the trial, although none required medical intervention, the company said.

Headache, fatigue, and muscle pain were among the more common side effects, and the vaccine was “well tolerated” overall, the company said.

Because COVID-19 vaccines are being developed at unprecedented speed, safety issues are being watched very closely.

“When you are talking about vaccinating the entire world, safety is almost more important than efficacy,” said Brad Loncar, chief executive of Loncar Investments, an investment fund specializing in biotechnology companies.

The Phase II portion of the study will be conducted in multiple countries, including the United States. It will gauge the vaccine’s ability to prevent infections or reduce severity of COVID-19, in addition to safety and immune response, among a broader range of volunteers. — Reuters

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