You have until Friday to nominate your femtech company of the year.

The award is one of 10 featuring at Femtech World’s third annual awards event, which attracts entries from across the UK, EU and Europe.

The Company of the Year Award is for companies that have demonstrated exceptional leadership in tackling women’s health needs through groundbreaking products, services or platforms that are shaping the future of global femtech.

If your company is driving innovation, impact and growth in this space, this award was made for you.

About the sponsor: Femovate

The category is backed by Femovate, the global femtech incubator using design to fuel innovation across every stage of a woman’s health journey, from proactive prevention through to personalised treatment.

Femovate has invested over US$2 million in design capital, working side-by-side with founding teams to bring market-ready solutions to life.

The startups it supports have collectively raised US$120 million, launched 30 products, and secured seven FDA clearances.

Why enter?

The Femtech World Awards are free to enter.

Winners and shortlisted companies receive extensive coverage across all Femtech World platforms.

Winners will also receive a trophy and the opportunity to be featured in an interview for the publication.

Find out more about the Femtech World Award and enter here by 4pm BST on Friday 17.

Women with osteoporosis may be more likely to carry a gene linked to Alzheimer’s, according to new research.

Scientists found that APOE4, the most common genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s, can weaken bone quality in women, even when standard scans appear normal.

The study, carried out by researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in California, US, and UC San Francisco, suggests the gene may damage bone at a microscopic level long before any visible signs.

These changes can emerge as early as midlife and remain invisible to routine imaging tests used to assess bone strength.

The findings suggest a link between Alzheimer’s risk and skeletal health and could help pave the way for earlier detection of both conditions.

Professor Birgit Schilling, a senior author of the study, said: “What makes this finding so striking is that bone quality is being compromised at a molecular level that a standard bone scan simply will not catch.

“APOE4 is quietly disrupting the very cells responsible for keeping bone strong – and it is doing this specifically in females, which mirrors what we see with Alzheimer’s disease risk.”

Doctors have long observed that people with Alzheimer’s suffer higher rates of bone fractures, while osteoporosis in women is known to be one of the earliest predictors of the disease.

Now scientists believe they may have uncovered why.

Researchers led by Dr Charles Schurman carried out a detailed analysis of proteins in aged mouse bone and found that tissue was unusually rich in molecules linked to neurological disease, including those associated with Alzheimer’s.

In particular, long-lived bone cells known as osteocytes showed elevated levels of APOE, with levels twice as high in older female mice compared with younger or male animals.

Further experiments using genetically modified mice revealed that APOE4 had a strong and sex-specific impact on both bone and brain tissue.

The disruption at the protein level was even greater in bone than in the brain.

However, the bone structure itself appeared completely normal under scans.

Instead, the gene interfered with a key maintenance process inside bone cells, preventing them from repairing microscopic channels that keep bones strong and resilient.

When this process breaks down, bones become more fragile even if they look healthy on standard imaging.

These results suggest bone cells could potentially act as early biological warning signs of cognitive decline in women carrying APOE4.

Professor Lisa Ellerby, another senior author, said: “We think targeting these cells may open a new front in preserving bone quality in this population.”

Experts say the findings highlight the need to view the body as an interconnected system rather than treating diseases in isolation.

Dementia, of which Alzheimer’s is the most common form, remains one of the UK’s biggest health challenges.

Around 900,000 people are currently living with the condition, a figure expected to rise to 1.6 million by 2040.

It is already the leading cause of death, responsible for more than 74,000 deaths each year.