Women’s health

Currently, only 4% of R&D investments in the biopharmaceutical industry go towards women-specific health needs. Thus, it’s important to accelerate:

• Fundamental research to better understand feminine physiology, women’s-specific health subjects (such as disorders linked to menstruation and menopause), and to generate gender-specific data to improve medicine and care pathways dedicated to women
• Clinical research to develop new treatments, particularly for currently untreated (or minimally treated) pathologies such as endometriosis, and for hormonal disorders or post-reproductive health
• For non-gender-specific pathologies, simply ensuring gender balance in clinical trials would better take into account women’s health.

What understanding can be gained by a better comprehension of women’s physiology and on gendered medicine? What women-specific needs should be better covered? What new treatments and innovations should be developed for women’s health?

Numerous efforts have been made to prioritize women’s health by public and private players in order to sensitize and educate the public, and to train healthcare professionals to better recognize health issues specific to women and reduce diagnostic delays.

For example:

• Endometriosis, the leading cause of infertility in France, takes on average 7 years to diagnose, partly due to the normalization of pain, taboo surrounding menstruations, and a general lack of knowledge and awareness surrounding the condition. While France has taken steps to address this issue with a national initiative to fight endometriosis, other women-specific conditions (such as polycystic ovary syndrome and premenstrual syndrome) have yet to be addressed.
• Screening and monitoring risks of cardiovascular disease in women are inadequate: 42% of women do not have heart examinations, despite the fact that cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women. In fact, 8 out of 10 women are unaware of the signs of heart attack in women, which are different from those present in men.

Which women’s health subjects are poorly identified and diagnosed? How can we reduce misdiagnoses? How can we promote the right level of therapeutic education?

Women’s healthcare needs to be more comprehensive and multidisciplinary, with a coordination initiative between gynecologists, general practitioners, midwives, fertility specialists, specialist institutes, and other healthcare professionals.

The role of midwives, for example, could evolve and take into account not only women’s pregnancy, but their gynecological check-ups, given that only one in every two women carry out gynecological check-ups as often as recommended by health authorities.

Additionally, it’s necessary that the involved healthcare professionals take into account gender- and sex-specificities into their care journeys (understanding biological differences such as symptoms, fighting against gender stereotypes and social inequalities linked to gender, etc.) and understand the emotional journeys of their patients.

What needs are currently unaddressed, or poorly addressed, in women’s health? Which aspects could patients and healthcare professionals be better supported in?

The 2020 WHAM report estimated that $14 billion would be saved in the US by every $350 million research invested in research for women’s health, specifically for Alzheimer’s, coronary heart disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. This is one of many available figures demonstrating that research investments into women’s health would also greatly benefit society overall!

Let’s illustrate with FemTech, some new solutions that aim to address the specific health needs of women. Key examples include disruptive start-ups such as Clue, which helps women monitor their menstrual cycles, Apricity, which is a virtual fertility clinic, or Elvie, a connected medical device for perineum re-education.

It’s thus necessary for private and public health players to support innovation, to develop partnerships and to contribute to the growth and development of these new solutions.

There are still challenges that need to be addressed in this market: not all FemTech segments have the same visibility or funding, including particular attention on maternity and fertility, and less on menopause and menstruation. The latter are restricted by existing taboos around these subjects and lack of knowledge, especially among investors.

What will be the innovations of tomorrow in FemTech? How can we support them?

Access to quality healthcare for women is hindered by socio-cultural problems, such as :

• Existing taboos around menstruation, menopause, and sexual health
• Gender stereotypes which could, for example, explain the under-diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders in girls and women because of social constructs around “shyness” and “social isolation” in girls
• Women’s renunciation of healthcare or putting others healthcare before their own (81% of women make such healthcare “sacrifices”)
• Economic insecurity, which affects women more than men

How can we address socio-cultural factors that hinder women’s access to healthcare services? What role can different public and private actors, in healthcare and outside, play in these subjects?