Bringing innovation to women’s health – Hormone charting at home is now possible, get pregnant faster with “Pearl by Beurer”

As a strategic investor and health specialist Beurer has partnered with Colorimetrix. The Munich-based start-up company has developed a system to help women track their hormones at home, understand their cycle and help them get pregnant faster. Pearl Fertility consist on a mobile app powered by the Colorimetrix technology and a testing kit "Pearl by Beurer". The kit allows women wishing to have children to track their hormones, anticipate ovulation and find the clinically proven fertile days. Beurer provides support with procurement, distribution and marketing. The product is expected to come onto Beurer's distribution channels in early 2020, under the name OT 80 "Pearl by Beurer".

Regardless of how variable the female cycle can be, only a few days every month carry a chance of becoming pregnant. Accurate determination of the fertile days can help couples when seeking to conceive. The modern times have pushed the age of the first pregnancy to 30 years or older. This together with the fact that fertility decreases overtime and with age, has pushed the fertility market to bloom, and solutions such as Pearl Fertility are in great demand. Two hormones govern the first half of the cycle where the highest chances to conceive are: the follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) which is mainly produced for the egg to mature in the first half of the cycle, and the luteinizing hormone (LH) which is responsible for rupture of the follicles and ovulation, releasing the egg.

How does the Pearl System work?
While conventional ovulation tests often only test one hormone and provide only positive or negative lines, or emoji-like symbols, the Pearl System enables both hormones to be measured independently. The hormone level information is used by the algorithms in the "Pearl Fertility" app to show real-time cycle information, accurate and clinically validated fertility window information. The home urine tests in the "Pearl by Beurer" OT 80 kit have an accuracy of 99 percent* in detecting the hormones independently. The hormone testing is taken daily using first morning urine. A coloured line shows the test has been completed. Then the results can be conveniently evaluated using the camera of mobile phone via the "Pearl Fertility" app. This gives a far more accurate result than a mere visual analysis, the software collects the relevant values from the test and control lines using the fullcolour spectrum analysis technology from Colorimetrix. This allows the levels of FSH and LH to be determined and over time build a personalised hormonal profile. The decisive advantage is the individualization of the cycle prediction accuracy. Physical characteristics such as body temperature or period dates can only give a glance of the insights of the body. As the hormones govern the individual changes in the body for each cycle, the "Pearl by Beurer" kit can also be used by women with irregular cycles.

What does the "Pearl Fertility" app offer in addition?
The free "Pearl Fertility" app enables holistic monitoring of the female cycle. Not only does it display the day of ovulation and the next period, it also gives information on when ovulation will occur, for example up to 6 days in advance by detecting trends in FSH hormone levels, as never done before. This makes it even easier to maximise the chances of becoming pregnant. The app guides the user on what to test when, with a personalized schedule for each of the tests in the OT 80 kit. The interpretation of the measured values is clearly explained and all hormone values as well as the fertility window are presented in a clear graphical user interface. The current cycle phase and the likelihood of becoming pregnant can be seen all at a glance, with one swipe navigation.

In addition to the 15 FSH and 15 LH hormone test strips, the OT 80 includes a strip holder for optimal handling and two pregnancy tests, offering the user all what is needed in their journey to conceive. The "Pearl Fertility" app is available for iOS and Android devices in English, German and Spanish, and the "Pearl by Beurer" kit will be ready to ship from early 2020.

Further information about the start-up can be found at: www.colorimetrix.com and www.pearl-fertility.com.

*when determining the FSH and LH hormones using the test strips