Is women's health investing finally taking off? Despite certain vibes in the cosmos, it sure feels like it.
We've been well behind the eight ball in women's health research—and that's what drives new treatments, tech and meds. Catch up on how investors may take us 'from Ma Bell to cell phones' this year.
Two plus decades after the Institutes of Medicine called for inclusion of women in medical research, still only about a third of US research today includes women, even though we’re half the population. (Helloooo?) In traditional healthcare, planning innovative—or even appropriate—women’s care from available medical research is like being a blind squirrel trying to find the proverbial nut.
Fortunately, women now have money of our own.* BOA Institute says about 33% of the world’s wealth was owned by women in even three years ago, and half of that is in the US. Others put current women’s wealth at 52% of all wealth. Either way, that wealth is expected to grow substantially by 2030.
With that kind of money in play, investors have noticed, and can act a lot faster than our traditional health researchers, funded by Federal organizations that are rapidly disappearing. With outside investment, it’s possible to finally overcome the inertia of decades of “women are just little men, so just do research men and apply it women” thinking.
Based on your views (clicks) on our prior posts on the topic, you seem interested. But we’d love a little more active feedback than just the number of views. (Hint: Comments.) We’re already watching for news, and will be following it closely. This isn’t our traditional healthcare wheelhouse, but we’re energized. We’ve been waiting a l.o.n.g time. Let us know what you’d like to know. And if you have favorite sources on this, let us know that, too (Again…Comments). Investments in women’s health will help all of us, and, as women, we’re usually interested in supporting each other; we’re keying into that as well.
In the meantime, if you want to catch up:
As a primer on women’s health investment, this article from Deloitte is great background. As Deloitte notes, “Although venture funding in the overall health tech market fell 27% between 2022 and 2023, investments in innovators focused on women’s health grew 5%, marking a difference of 32 percentage points.”
The Business Case for Accelerating Women's Health Investment, was released by Women's Health Access Matters (WHAM) in January at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference; it created a firestorm of interest by clearly laying out the potential. [Download the full report pdf here.]
As you read the report, consider specific areas that interest you, and let us know that, too. The gap between research and care, and incidence in women, is immense on menopause, autoimmune diseases, dementia and Alzheimers, heart disease, and non-smoking lung cancer. (Side note: I’ve been in women’s healthcare forever, and I can remember all the blank looks I got for months at an unamed but well-known Pennsylvania health system when they hired me eight years ago to tell them all this, and then pretty much ignored it out of cognitive dissonance. Timing is all!)
Substackers like Maryann U. have information you won’t find anywhere else. She’s passionate about connecting female and diverse founders to capital. Her site here on Substack—FemmeHealth Ventures— is a great place to learn a more.
Assuming your continued interest (Comments!!!), we’re planning on featuring more in the future. Exciting times in this area could balance a lot of other events these days.
*Having emerged in the 70s from the tradwife kitchen into the workplace. Just sayin.’