Solutions for the Health of Women

Cure’s inaugural Power of X Women’s Health Summit gathered more than 200 investors, founders, scientists, and healthcare leaders to focus on accelerating investment in the health of women.

The two-day event, on March 24 and 25, 2025, at Cure’s headquarters in New York City created a dynamic forum to drive actionable solutions to the challenge women face in preserving their health and preventing diseases that occur differently, disproportionally or exclusively in them.

Throughout the Summit, we came away with six key takeaways for how we can convert words to action. Here are some of the most important action items for everyone, with customized guides for investors, policymakers, and founders.

1. Closing the Health Innovation Gap

It's clear that the health of women is significantly underfunded and under-researched. Many conditions unique to or more prevalent in women remain misunderstood or misdiagnosed. Therefore, we need to redefine women's health beyond reproductive care.

Solutions:

• Increase investment in research focused on female-specific and female-prevalent conditions.

• Advocate and push for policy reforms and NIH funding guidelines that mandate inclusion of sex and gender variables.

• Create multi-stakeholder alliances (academia, biotech, payers, regulators) to fast-track clinical innovation.

2. Redesigning the Research Model

Clinical trials have historically excluded or inadequately studied women, created a void of data about the role of sex in health and disease. Therefore, the one-size-fits-all research model fails women.

Solutions:

• Implement greater adoption of decentralized and inclusive trial designs.

• Use real-world evidence and AI to uncover overlooked signals in women’s health data.

• Advocate for mandates requiring population representation in clinical studies to enroll

  populations that represent those affected by the condition for which the investigational intervention is being tested.

3. Innovation in Technology and Diagnostics

A surge of startups is tackling menopause, endometriosis, PCOS, maternal health, and sexual health—but their funding remains limited. The lack of validated biomarkers hampers innovation and reimbursement.

Solutions:

• Develop cross-sector innovation hubs that co-create diagnostics, therapeutics, and digital tools.

• Partner with payers and regulators early to align on endpoints and real-world outcomes needed to generate evidence-based solutions and practices.

• Create accelerators and grants specific to innovation for the health of women.

4. Investing in the Health of Women is an Economic Imperative

The market for women’s health innovation is an untapped opportunity of more than $1 trillion. Delays in diagnosis, poor care outcomes, and impact on workplace productivity due to untreated and under-treated conditions in women cost billions annually.

Solutions:

• Reframe women’s health as a growth market and economic opportunity, not a niche.

• Encourage VC firms, institutional investors, and corporate health benefits leaders to fund women-led ventures.

• Create outcome-based investment vehicles to de-risk early-stage companies active in the health of women.

5. Building Inclusive Health Ecosystems

Intersectionality matters—variables like biological differences, age, income, culture, disability, and social determinants impact health outcomes. Trust is a major barrier to pursuing and receiving care for those in economically disadvantaged communities.

Solutions:

• Build community-first care models grounded in trust and cultural competence.

• Include diverse populations in the design of products and services from day one.

• Expand access through mobile health units, community health workers, and localized digital solutions.

6. The Power of Women Leaders and Storytelling

Lived experience is a powerful driver of innovation. Women leaders, clinicians, founders, and patients are shaping the future of health care.

Solutions:

• Elevate women’s voices in boardrooms, labs, and investment committees.

• Fund media and storytelling initiatives that normalize conversations around taboo topics like menopause, miscarriage, and chronic pain.

• Use storytelling to drive advocacy, funding, and public awareness.

For Investors

Opportunity Landscape:

There is an addressable market larger than $1 trillion to be realized in women’s health innovation with massive unmet needs across diagnostics, therapeutics, digital health, and care delivery.

Investment in FemTech and women’s health grew by more than 300 percent during the last five years, yet companies focused on the health of women remain undercapitalized compared to other sectors.

Key Takeaways:

• The health of women is not niche segment — it’s a macro growth market.

• Conditions like endometriosis, menopause, autoimmune disease, Alzheimer’s, and maternal health have billion-dollar market potential.

• Lived-experience founders are building high-conviction, category-defining companies.

Investment Recommendations:

• Back platform plays that address chronic and comorbid conditions with long loan-to-value.

• Prioritize startups with clear regulatory pathways and payer/reimbursement alignment.

• Leverage outcome-based funding models, like revenue-based financing or milestone-linked tranches, to de-risk early stages.

• Fund biomarker and diagnostic innovation — a key to unlock for downstream therapeutic success.

For Policymakers

Systemic Gaps:

Women's health represents just4 percent of biopharma R&D spend. Basic science lab models and clinical trials have long excluded female populations and we are playing catch up to gather sex-linked data. This lack of data leads to lack of innovation, misdiagnosis, undertreatment, which results in higher healthcare costs and loss of productivity. Also, maternal mortality rates in the U.S. remain the highest among developed nations.

Key Takeaways:

• The gender health gap is a structural issue with economic, competitive, and public health consequences.

• Without mandates and funding, innovation will not scale and U.S. dominance in healthcare innovation will be impacted.

Policy Recommendations:

• Enact funding mandates to increase NIH and federal support for female-specific and female-prevalent conditions.

• Require clinically appropriate representation in clinical trials as a condition of funding approval.

• Incentivize the creation of innovation zones for startups focused on the health of women, offering tax breaks, grants, and infrastructure support.

• Enable reimbursement pathways for digital therapeutics and diagnostics through CMS and Medicaid.

For Founders

Market Context:

There is increasing demand from women for care models that are personalized, tech-enabled, and inclusive. Payers, employers, and pharma are seeking women’s health solutions that demonstrate measurable outcomes for women.

Key Takeaways:

• The most successful companies build with evidence, empathy, and economics at the core.

• Access and trust are critical differentiators, especially in economically disadvantaged populations.

Strategic Recommendations:

• Co-design products with patients and providers to ensure robust data, clinical validity and patient relevance.

• Partner early with payers and industry for commercialization pathways.

• Build storytelling into your brand and fundraising — data paired with lived experience wins investor trust.

• Create ecosystem alliances — partner with hospitals, employers, research institutions, and advocacy groups to scale reach and impact.

• Investors: Back innovation for the health of women not just for impact, but for outsized financial returns.

• Policymakers: Set the structural foundation to close the gender gap in healthcare access and innovation.

• Founders: Lead the charge with bold, inclusive, and science-backed solutions that scale.

For more information about the Power of X Summit, read Cure’s Insight Articles:

• Power of X Summit Makes Investment Case for Women’s Health

• Mayhem, Destruction and Biomedical Tumult from Trump Cuts

• LunaJoy Wins Impact Challenge at Cure's Power of X Summit

• Federal Layoffs Deeply Concern Former FDA Commissioner

• What Investors Look for in Funding Women’s Health