
A MHT patch made by women for women
Doação protegida
Imagine if your medication kept falling off your skin, causing irritation, and for the last 3 years you couldn't even find it in stores......
Hi my name is Johanna Wicks, and I'm fundraising to change the world.... in one small, tiny, but oh so important way .
It's been over 20 YEARS since new technology in estrogen patches entered the global market. 20yrs of innovation in transdermal delivery that HAS NOT made it into a key women's health product (& is why they keep falling off or irritating your skin).
Why you wonder? Well I have wondered this a LOT over the past 3 years as the ongoing patch shortages continue to make the news, again and again and again....
Why is there no progress? It's not a 'supply chain issue'. It's simply that there are not enough patches being manufactured globally to meet the growing demand, and not all patches make it to Australia. Following the Women's Health Initiative in 2002 menopause hormone therapy use globally plummeted and many pharmaceutical companies stopped manufacturing hormone therapy products. Now that the WHI "findings" have been debunked, and demand has increased, there is simply not enough patches being manufactured, and no one is bothering to make more. Patches do not make pharmaceutical companies a lot of money, as hormones cannot be patented. & there are often newer, shinier and much more profitable drugs that companies can use their manufacturing capability for.... so investing in MHT production and technology isn't high on the 'to do list'.
& that's why patches, if you can find them, so often
- still fall off
- still irritate your skin
- must be changed every 3.5 days in Australia
So why this Go Fund Me? Well who would like to have access to a MHT PATCH DESIGNED BY A WOMAN, FOR WOMEN?
It's a bit of a no brainer isn't it?
Earlier this year in Sydney at the So Hot Right Now menopause medical conference I met the incredible incredible Raisa Monteiro, a materials engineer (photo below) and it was one of those conversation where you just go “THIS THIS THIS THIS” and start jumping up and down with excitement. Raisa has created a company, Lorai Health, to develop the first new generation estrogen patch in over 20 years.

Raisa, Founder & CEO of Lorai Health
YES YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY
▶️ 20 YEARS
The Lorai patch aims to improve patient comfort and convenience:
♀️ A patch that wouldn’t irritate the skin, or fall off
♀️ A patch that – eventually – can be further customised – with different hormone strengths/ different adhesives for different skin types, and, ideally
♀️ A patch that will hopefully be manufactured here in Australia, so we never have to RUN OUT EVER AGAIN
Lorai Health wants to make the patch WE would all want to use.
I am so ridiculously excited about what this could represent.
A problem solved by women, for women, as well as:
♀️ Addressing a market shortage
♀️ Designing the product the way WE want it
♀️ Supporting Australian #femtech #medtech
I mean I want a hot pink patch that says, #mymenopauseera, & lasts for a week.... If you could design your own patch, what would you want?
Our innovation focuses on improving the patient experience and adherence:
♀️Uses the same TGA-approved hormones (e.g. estradiol)
♀️ Features a gentler adhesive system
♀️ Aims for longer, more stable drug delivery
Want to part of this femininomenon?!!!!!
Well you can. We - Lorai Health - are asking Australian women to help us make this a reality.
Our minimum goal of $300K will complete the prototype, but $3M would fully fund development and validation.
There are approximately 3 million perimenopausal & menopausal women in Australia right now. We are A LOT, & if just 10% of us donated $10, we, the women of Australia, could raise $3 million dollars

The development of the new generation prototype is happening right now. I'm hoping this GoFundMe might catch the attention of some investors..... I mean I'd love some female femtech investors to see the potential in this.... a global growing market?!!! Um HELLO SISTERHOOD!!!!!!!
So want to help? We know cost of living is hard right now, we also know that it's so goddamn frustrating that women have to fund our own solutions as big pharma certainly isn't. But I so so believe we can do this.
$10
300,000 women
= 3 million AUD
But also if you would like to donate more than $10, that would be AWSEOME, and you also don't have to be a woman, we would love our male, trans and non-binary allies to support as well - a patch that makes the user happy makes everyone happy ☺️.
We are ambitious. We want this product in the market in 4yrs (ok maybe three!). We want it MADE IN AUSTRALIA, so Australia isn't at the bottom of the global supply chain when it comes to women's health products anymore. But we also want the ability to supply GLOBALLY to women all over the world who are fed up with second rate patches.
How You Can Help - your contribution will contribute to:
♀️ Patch formulation and lab-scale manufacturing
♀️ Adhesion, tolerability, and drug release testing
♀️ Preparation for regulatory submission under the TGA pathway
You're not buying a product—you're helping to advance innovation in women’s health. Patch formulation and lab-scale manufacturing.
& I want to bring you on the journey. I'll do fortnightly updates on our progress. Not exactly sure how yet, this platform? Or substack? Or insta? Or Facebook? A website? But not only so you know where your donation is going, but also so you can see how this all happens. What goes into making a new product that meets the needs of women :)
A bit about us
Raisa has a PhD in Chemistry from Stanford, as well as having worked for Fortune 500 companies DuPont and KPMG. She brings extensive experience in product development, scale up,
manufacturing (adhesives & coatings) as well as delivering multimillion R&D projects to establish and commercialize technology platforms (coatings for immuno-diagnostics and batteries). She brings the engineering know-how.
I'm Johanna, I'm a women's health advocate and passionate/rage filled perimenopausal fundraiser, that is fed up with this patriarchal world determining what pharmaceutical products we have access to in this country and how women's health is treated. I want a different future for my daughter and access to the BEST drugs she may or may not need throughout her life cycle. I've spent the last 3 years putting menopause on the map in Canberra (think Senate Inquiry and half a billion dollars for women's health) - and worked as an advocate for the two biggest global not-for profits in sexual and reproductive health, MSI International and the International Planned Parenthood Federation. I've spent my whole life advocating for better access to the healthcare for women and girls, whether its contraceptives, safe abortion or menopause hormone therapy. I am SO passionate and personally invested in this space (to the point where my friends probably think I'm super boring with how much I bang on about health inequity and menopause stigma). You can learn more about me in my interview with Sonya Lovell on her Dear Menopause podcast, episode 95 "Behind the Scenes of Australia's Menopause Movement or any of our Hot Takes. My very opinionated LinkedIn can tell you even more about me ☺️.

Johanna, Parliament House Canberra 2023
But mostly right now I'm excited. Join us in making history - donate $10 (+) today and be part of the solution women have been waiting 20 years for
Johanna
Important TGA Disclosure
This project involves the development of a new formulation of a hormone replacement therapy patch. While the active drugs used are TGA-approved, this new patch design has not yet been reviewed or approved by the TGA. This crowdfunding campaign supports research and development only, not the sale or distribution of any product. We make no medical claims regarding safety or efficacy.
Coorganizadores (2)

Johanna Wicks
Organizador
Ocean Grove, VIC
Raisa Monteiro
Coorganizador