women’s health
understanding the flow of capital from innovation to patient
Digitalis Research in partnership with


problem
statement
There is a dearth of capital invested in improving women’s health. While women’s health represents an opportunity for innovation in a critical market, companies in this space attract only 2% of the venture funding allocated for the entire healthcare industry. What is blocking investment and how can public-private partnerships help unblock the flow of capital?
motivation
The majority of drugs pulled of the market in the past several decades have been due to toxicities and safety issues in women. This state-of-affairs is primarily caused by inequity in basic research, new medicine development and subsequent clinical trials. Additionally, there are a myriad of conditions that only affect women, affect women differently than men, and are more prevalent in women than men, including:
- Women are nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with depression compared to men.
- While men and women have similar rates of heart attacks, women face higher mortality rates.
- Nearly 78% of patients with autoimmune diseases are women.
- While women are more likely to experience chronic pain, they receive less pain treatment than men.
- Severe maternal morbidity (SMM) rates have nearly doubled in the past decade even though 80% of maternal deaths are preventable.
- 1 in 5 women are at-risk for Alzheimer’s disease compared to 1 in 10 men.
- Migraine is the third most common disease worldwide and women are 3x more likely to suffer from migraines than men. Migraine is the #1 cause of disability globally among women under age 50.
- While more than 1M women in the U.S. experience menopause each year, only 15% of women receive evidence-based interventions to help alleviate their symptoms.
- 60% of Rheumatoid Arthritis patients are women, but only 7% of $86M 2019 NIH RA budget went to women-focused research.
Although these statistics are daunting, the commitment to women’s health by the US Government has significantly increased over the past year, with The White House taking the lead on vision and resource allocation. Investments include:
- $12 B from the White House
- $100 M from ARPA-H
- $500 M from the Pentagon
- $558 M from HHS for maternal mortality research and prevention ($440 M from HRSA for maternal and infant health services, $118 M from CDC for maternal mortality infrastructure)
As funding is deployed to innovation and solutions for women’s health, it is important to understand the different pools of capital required to advance innovation to product development and commercialization to ensure government investment ultimately reaches patients, quickly and safely.
curation
PAPERS
Drugs and Medical Devices:
Adverse Events and the Impact on Women's Health
Jennifer L Carey, Nathalie Nader, Peter R Chai, Stephanie Carreiro, Matthew K Griswold, Katherine L Boyle / Clinical Therapeutics / 2017
A large number of medications and medical devices removed from the market by the US Food and Drug Administration over the past 4 decades specifically posed greater health risks to women.
2024 State Scorecard on Women’s Health and Reproductive Care
Sara R. Collins, David C. Radley, Shreya Roy, Laurie C. Zephyrin, Arnav Shah / The Commonwealth Fund / 2024
“Where a woman lives matters to her health: U.S. states vary widely in access to care, quality of care, and health outcomes for women.”
Insights into the U.S. Maternal Mortality Crisis:
An International Comparison
Munira Z. Gunja, Evan D. Gumas, Relebohile Masitha, Laurie C. Zephyrin / The Commonwealth Fund / 2024
“The U.S. maternal mortality rate continues to far exceed those of other high-income nations, despite a decline since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
REPORTS
WHAM / 2022
“If we invest $6 million in rheumatoid arthritis research focused on women, we get $10.5 billion in returns to our economy.”
ARTICLES
Why Is It Still so Hard to Succeed in Women’s Health?
Leslie Schrock / Second Opinion / 2024
“I’ve seen firsthand that despite huge market opportunities and acute need, building and funding companies in women’s health is still more challenging than it should be. ”
next steps
Convene experts to adequately identify the gaps in capital flow. Once these gaps are identified, we can address, by focusing on innovative policy solutions, where the government can significantly improve women’s health outcomes by supporting the development of critical health solutions for women.
Prepare white paper summarizing findings with strategies for other publishing to other media outlets.
Convene and lead panel discussion on our results for government agencies and offices that are committing capital to women’s health.
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