Health Tech: Kathy Lee-Sepsick of Femasys On How Their Technology Can Make An Important Impact On Our Overall Wellness

An Interview With David Leichner

Qualified team — Surrounding the founder with fellow executives that are driven by the mission and have a similar moral compass not only increases the likelihood of success but ensures the journey is gratifying.

In recent years, Big Tech has gotten a bad rep. But of course many tech companies are doing important work making monumental positive changes to society, health, and the environment. To highlight these, we started a new interview series about “Technology Making An Important Positive Social Impact”. We are interviewing leaders of tech companies who are creating or have created a tech product that is helping to make a positive change in people’s lives or the environment. As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Kathy Lee-Sepsick.

Kathy Lee-Sepsick founded Femasys in February 2004. Ms. Lee-Sepsick has served as a senior executive in the medical technologies industry for nearly three decades, compiling a successful track record in growing emerging companies and corporate operating divisions. She holds over 100 patents globally for Femasys’ products and product candidates. Ms. Lee-Sepsick was instrumental in the various stages of product and company life cycles with strategic, operational, and executive responsibilities, at start-ups Novoste Corporation, developer of intravascular therapy solution and SaluMedica, biomaterial developer of artificial cartilage. At the onset of her career, Ms. Lee-Sepsick served in a product management role at Terumo Medical Corporation, where she was integral in the management of strategic partner, Boston Scientific Corporation. Ms. Lee-Sepsick also serves on the Board of Directors of Georgia Bio. Ms. Lee-Sepsick holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MBA from Rutgers University.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series. Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory and how you grew up?

Thanks so much for having me! I am a first-generation born American and believe my immigrant parents helped shape my strong work ethic and risk-taking persona. I was raised by my mother, a risk-taking woman who continues to encourage me, and my father, who set an example of a diligent work ethic, as he worked tirelessly to financially support us. My diversity has provided unique lessons for how to persevere, particularly in women’s health, an area of medicine that has been notoriously underserved.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?

Although there are countless interesting stories I have encountered over the course of my career, most recently I was invited to the White House to meet with staff members of the Gender Policy Council and the Office of Science and Technology Policy. It was a remarkable experience to discuss Femasys’ initiatives in women’s health and the learnings from the 20 years since I started the company. We found a captive audience with these groups, and we hope to continue working together to change the landscape for the better around women’s healthcare in our country.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

I am grateful every day for my daughters, who have provided endless inspiration and sparked my interest in launching Femasys to make a difference in women’s health for the many generations to come. They have been my rock and foundation through the ups and downs of running the company. I am especially thankful that my work at Femasys stimulated them both to have careers in healthcare and to be motivated to make a difference in others’ lives, as they work to achieve their goals.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

Embrace Challenges as a Learning Opportunity: Starting a company involves taking risks and the journey can be unpredictable with many challenges along the way. I believe there is a silver lining in most situations that can provide an opportunity to learn and grow. Analyzing what went awry for us and others, being adaptive for the unpredictable, and applying lessons learned to future endeavors helps to move me personally and the company forward.

You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Three character traits that were most instrumental to my success are ambition, perseverance, and a moral compass.

1. Ambition drove me to create solutions that would offer women suitable options in areas that have seen little-to-no innovation, because I confronted the same challenges as others when I faced inadequate options for my own reproductive care.
2. Perseverance because there were many times that a reasonable person would have given up. I have battled through countless challenges around funding, regulatory requirement shifts, and a lack of interest in women’s health.
3. My moral compass which has guided my thoughtful and prudent decision making as challenging situations have been navigated allowing for forward progress.

Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about the technology or medical devices that you are helping to create that can make a positive impact on our wellness. To begin, which particular problems are you aiming to solve?

Femasys is a leading biomedical company focused on addressing significant unmet reproductive health needs of women worldwide with a broad portfolio of in-office, accessible, and innovative therapeutic and diagnostic products. We are committed to providing women with revolutionary products as they seek solutions throughout their reproductive journey.

How do you think your technology can address this?

We are excited to bring to market our revolutionary product FemaSeed®, a form of artificial insemination where sperm is delivered directly and safely into the fallopian tube, where conception occurs. FemaSeed is a highly cost-effective, convenient approach to enhance natural fertilization. As the latest in artificial insemination technology, it has significant advantages, including being more affordable and having fewer risks than in vitro fertilization (IVF) and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). As a therapeutic option, FemaSeed is the catalyst for Femasys to initiate commercial efforts within the U.S. and ultimately scale globally.

We also have a lead product candidate, FemBloc® permanent birth control, in late-stage clinical development. We are conducting a multi-center pivotal trial and believe FemBloc will be revolutionary for women seeking a non-surgical method for permanent contraception that is accessible, cost-effective, and has substantially fewer risks than the surgical alternative. We are working diligently every day to make this much-needed option available to women worldwide.

Our other commercially available products are FemVue®, a contrast-generating device for ultrasound evaluation of a woman’s fallopian tubes; FemCath®, a selective delivery catheter to aid in fallopian tube and uterine cavity evaluation; and FemCerv® an endocervical tissue sampler for diagnosis of cervical cancer.

As an innovator in women’s healthcare, we are continuing to develop technologically advanced medical solutions while we work to improve the lives of women around the world. We hold a number of patents for other products as well that we hope to bring to women in the near future.

Can you tell us the backstory about what inspired you to originally feel passionate about this cause?

Like many women, I worried about balancing my career goals with the desire to have a family and how large that family should be. After having my two daughters, I considered permanent birth control but quickly realized what was available carried too much risk to satisfy such a basic healthcare need. I did not want to undergo general anesthesia and have incisions or have a coil as a permanent implant (which is no longer available). My frustration with the options inspired me to invent FemBloc, a product that is designed to be the most natural approach for permanent birth control. My life sciences background and strong desire to create a better, safer, more accessible alternative that women around the world can benefit from drove the early work at Femasys. This became the springboard for FemaSeed, a similar delivery platform to FemBloc, for those struggling with infertility. The two areas of focus are on opposite ends of the reproductive spectrum but serve as examples of the causes Femasys has embraced as we develop options for women’s healthcare needs.

How do you think this might change the world?

Time and time again, we are reminded that investing in women leads to outsized results throughout the community, as those women impact the lives of their friends, children, and colleagues. With our thoughtfully created product solutions, such as FemBloc and FemaSeed, as well as our other innovative products, the focus has been on developing safe, less costly, and more accessible options for women’s health. I am so excited that our infertility portfolio is now coming to the market with a dedicated commercial team that the company has invested in for the first time in our 20-year history. We’re eager to improve the lives of women by bringing them technologically advanced options that are safe and effective.

Keeping “Black Mirror” and the “Law of Unintended Consequences” in mind, can you see any potential drawbacks about this technology that people should think more deeply about?

I don’t think there are any potential drawbacks for Femasys’ technologies. Women’s health has undoubtedly been notoriously underfunded in the biomedical industry and has been met with products that have failed on a grand scale. There has been a staggering lack of research and product innovation in women’s reproductive health, affecting all women around the world. Recent recognition of the need to support women’s health research may bring funding opportunities to fast track the advancement of products to the hands of healthcare practitioners caring for women. The more options that are safe, accessible, and effective for women when they need reproductive care, the better.

Based on your experience and success, can you please share “Five things you need to know to successfully create technology that can make a positive social impact”?

1. Identify the need — Understanding the magnitude of the market need and the competitive landscape is an important first step. Leaning on personal experience can help identify the need but ensuring broad applicability is critical.
2. Market limitations — Focusing on the market challenges and limitations is imperative in establishing the optimal product design to ensure broad accessibility.
3. Understand capabilities — The capabilities of the end-user in healthcare are vital as product designs should leverage existing skill sets whenever possible to ensure the safest approach.
4. Focus — To have a positive social impact, technology needs to ultimately come to market. Remaining focused on the mission is essential to navigating the many requirements in medical device development.
5. Qualified team — Surrounding the founder with fellow executives that are driven by the mission and have a similar moral compass not only increases the likelihood of success but ensures the journey is gratifying.

If you could tell other young people one thing about why they should consider making a positive impact on our environment or society, like you, what would you tell them?

When you take on a mission that has the potential to positively impact our society, the responsibility of that decision will be affirmed by the gratitude of others for the impact made to their lives.

Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. :-)

I would enjoy a private meal with Warren Buffett. He founded the Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation in 1964, which has invested heavily in women’s reproductive healthcare. He has recognized the need for funding women’s health initiatives through his philanthropic efforts, specifically supporting methods to reduce unintended pregnancies. Mr. Buffet is a brilliant entrepreneur and financier, and I think it would be enlightening to hear first-hand any advice as I work to bring Femasys’ technologies to women.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Readers should stay tuned to our website, Femasys.com, as well as our social media pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

Thank you so much for joining us. This was very inspirational, and we wish you continued success in your important work.

About The Interviewer: David Leichner is a veteran of the Israeli high-tech industry with significant experience in the areas of cyber and security, enterprise software and communications. At Cybellum, a leading provider of Product Security Lifecycle Management, David is responsible for creating and executing the marketing strategy and managing the global marketing team that forms the foundation for Cybellum’s product and market penetration. Prior to Cybellum, David was CMO at SQream and VP Sales and Marketing at endpoint protection vendor, Cynet. David is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Jerusalem Technology College. He holds a BA in Information Systems Management and an MBA in International Business from the City University of New York.