E D I T O R ' S Q U E S T I O N
MELISSA WALLACE
CO-FOUNDER OF FIERCE FOUNDRY
Lately, I’ ve found myself immersed in books that explore the state of women’ s health – one that stands out is The XX Brain by Dr Lisa Mosconi. While it offers valuable guidance, it also makes one thing abundantly clear: we still don’ t fully understand the female brain.
Not enough research has been done to prevent conditions like menopause-related cognitive decline or Alzheimer’ s in women – and that lack of understanding isn’ t due to complexity.
Women’ s health has long been underfunded, overlooked and dismissed in both BioTech and medicine. And while this isn’ t new, recent political shifts have made things even worse. The Trump administration’ s deliberate defunding of federally supported public health programmes delivered a devastating blow:
• NIH funding freezes and cuts to indirect costs halted academic research progress
• Grants for maternal health, HIV prevention and DEI programs were terminated
• Layoffs, graduate programme disruptions and researcher exits followed
• Public health data – especially concerning gender, race and LGBTQ + identity – was suppressed or deleted
It’ s no wonder the pipeline for women-centred research is drying up. Conditions like endometriosis, PCOS, autoimmune disease, infertility and maternal mortality are still misunderstood and underdiagnosed simply because there hasn’ t been enough incentive to study them.
And yet, innovation is happening. The rise of FemTech and women-led biotech startups is pushing the industry forward, toward what’ s projected to be a US $ 1 trillion market by 2027.
We’ re seeing breakthroughs that wouldn’ t have happened without a female-centred lens:
• A therapeutic vaccine for cervical cancer
• Inhalable oxytocin that will save the lives of women in childbirth – especially in low-resource settings
• A new osteoarthritis treatment, MOTYS, developed from placental tissue by Doron Therapeutics, a womenled company
• Targeted therapies for reproductive health conditions like PCOS and endometriosis, areas historically ignored by traditional biotech
But here’ s the truth: without capital, these breakthroughs may never scale. And we’ ll continue to see women suffer from preventable conditions while waiting on innovation that’ s been deprioritised for decades.
When venture capital passes on women’ s health, it’ s not just an ethical failure – it’ s a financial misstep. Women make over 80 % of healthcare decisions. They represent a massive and underserved market. And the data backs it up:
• For every US $ 1 invested in women’ s health, there’ s a US $ 3 return in economic growth
• Closing the gender health gap could boost the global economy by US $ 1 trillion annually by 2040
• A US $ 350 million investment in women’ s health research can generate US $ 14 billion in economic returns within just a few years
Women’ s bodies have been under-researched, underfunded and underestimated. I work with female founders every day who will redefine health for women and families. But they can’ t do it alone. It’ s time we change that – not just for fairness but for our future.
26 www. intelligenthealth. tech