The State of Women’s Health in 2024
In 2024, the United Nations’ International Women’s Day launched a slogan: “Invest in Women: Accelerate progress.” In the biotech industry, “invest in women” may need to be a literal directive.
Funding for women’s health is still lacking in the federal and private sectors. As reproductive rights continue to be rolled back across the country, Cure's Ready, Set, Growth! Biotech Benchmark Report 2024 survey asked Biotech stakeholders for their perspectives on women’s health.
The majority — 60 percent — of survey respondents said women’s health plays a factor in their interest level regarding therapeutic areas. “Women’s health continues to be underfunded, misunderstood and targeted,” one respondent said, adding “reproductive and mental health are directly tied to the economy.”
Yet some people said their personal interests don’t align with their company. “As a woman, I personally factor this into my interest regarding therapeutic areas,” one respondent said. “However, our company does not factor this into its interest beyond unmet needs and commercial considerations.”
Women’s Health Funding in 2024
Current data are clear: women’s health companies generally get less funding. A report from Deloitte found that women’s health companies receive just 2 percent of venture funding allocated for the entire healthcare industry — even though women use more healthcare services than men, use preventative services at a higher rate, and control 80 percent of healthcare spending decisions, according to Leerink Partners.
Survey respondents were generally attuned to this discrepancy, with 65 percent of respondents saying current funding for women’s health companies is “not at all” or “not very” sufficient. Also, 24 percent of respondents said funding for women’s health companies is “somewhat sufficient,” while 12 percent said funding is “very” or “extremely” sufficient.
“Women’s health-focused companies face a ton of barriers to attract funding,” one respondent said, “starting from often being led by women, who we know have a harder time raising money, to the fact that some investors do not see a mature enough market for a lot of the solutions in women’s health.”
Others noted that while women’s health has been historically underfunded, that trend is starting to — slightly — reverse course. “It’s still below what is needed, but it is currently a very hot area,” one respondent said, “so investment dollars are starting to flow. There will still be vastly underfunded areas within women’s health.”
Indeed, Deloitte found that although investments in health tech fell overall between 2022 and 2023, investments in innovations focused on women’s health rose 5 percent in the same time period.
Sparking Innovation in Women’s Health
Like the rest of the biotech and healthcare sector, the women’s health space is keeping pace with rapid technological innovation. In recent years, women’s health companies have incorporated advances in AI, telehealth and portable ultrasonography into their efforts.
Yet more innovation in women’s health can still take place. Survey respondents were asked what degree of innovation they believe is currently being funded for conditions that are mostly or entirely prevalent in women. While 24 percent responded there was not much degree of innovation, 55 percent responded there was some innovation and 20 percent responded there was a lot of innovation.
Several respondents mentioned innovations in the spaces of infertility/fertility and menopause.
“I see solutions addressing common women’s health issues that have previously been largely ignored or lacking innovation of solutions developed decades ago by men or based on limited research,” one respondent said.
Another respondent suggested a reason why innovation in women’s health may be tough: “Most of the funded companies are doing low-risk work because of the difficulty in getting innovation funded.” One solution for sparking increased innovation in women’s health may be simple: encourage more women in science.
Many survey respondents — 77 percent — agreed with the statement: “The greater the percentage of women in science leads to a greater percentage of companies being formed that focus on women’s healthcare initiatives.”
However, respondents noted that even if more women go into science or business and launch women’s health companies, they still need to overcome barriers that include access to investors, funding and broader market conditions. For those who do overcome the odds, however, the rewards could be great. Not only would they be helping countless patients, but they would also be gaining access to the $100 billion market for women and family health.
