Left arm pain and a squeezing sensation in chest pain: Is a heart attack imminent? Very likely, for men. For women, however, common heart attack indicators were more similar to heartburn. This may be one reason why women are 50% more likely than men to be misdiagnosed after a heart attack and are more likely to die of a heart attack.
As the Chinese proverb goes, women hold up half the sky, but they don’t get half the attention when it comes to medical research and funding. Instead, male physiology has long been the default option.
Women are underrepresented in clinical trials and their specific characteristics are overlooked in the development of medical devices. For example, hip implants are designed with men’s musculature in mind, and women have a much higher failure rate. When women reported pain, they were less likely to receive treatment, and their symptoms were often considered “emotional” or “psychosomatic.” Women metabolize some drugs more slowly; this affects recommended doses, which is not always recognized and causes them to experience adverse drug events twice as often as men. Aside from cancer, women’s diseases account for less than 2% of the healthcare research and innovation pipeline.
In hindsight, there is no doubt that medical professionals would have done things differently so that the difference would have gotten smaller and smaller. But they exist. While that’s unfortunate, it also means there’s a huge opportunity — improving women’s health and strengthening healthcare systems, while opening up new sources of growth. Consider menopause: More than one-third of women’s lives are in or after menopause, and an estimated one-quarter of women experience severe symptoms — just when many move into senior positions. The lack of effective solutions to these symptoms may affect the quality of women’s work experience and further expand the need for more innovations in the field.
Another reason is that realizing these opportunities—medical, financial, and social—is not only possible, but possibly even the rise of “FemTech.” The term refers to the development of technology-enabled, consumer-focused solutions specifically for women’s health (excluding biopharmaceuticals and existing medical devices). “Women’s health” refers to issues specific to women, such as contraception, fertility, maternal health, gynecology and related cancers. In addition, we include general health conditions that affect women differently or more severely, such as heart disease; examples of the latter are autoimmune diseases, migraine, and osteoporosis.
McKinsey recently analyzed 763 FemTech companies— and found that the industry is soaring, albeit from a low base. Funding for FemTech startups has increased from almost zero in 2008 to nearly $2.5 billion in 2021; the same trend is seen in deals, which have grown from a handful to nearly 300 over the same period.
It’s not just potential: it has already proven successful in the market. offspringThe company that manages maternity benefits for employers went public in 2019 at a valuation of just over $1 billion; it’s now worth almost four times that. Marvin Clinicis a virtual clinic for women’s and family health, valued at over $1 billion in a recent Series D investment. FemTech may find a place in intimate areas such as menstrual health, sexual health, pelvic care and menopause, as well as serving specific client groups such as black women and LGBTQ+ people. Finally, clinical diagnostics companies are pushing the frontiers of science to address unmet medical needs in areas such as endometriosis and preterm birth.
As a percentage of the health sector, FemTech is almost a rounding error — but that’s why it could be such a big opportunity.For example, FemTech has obtained Only about 3% of digital health funding. However, FemTech has more and more fields, and the first movers are expanding their product range. Taken together, this is what change looks like—people, capabilities, technology, money, and markets are all moving in the same direction. Experience has shown that rapid growth can be achieved when technology converges to meet customer needs in entirely new ways: think of the advent of carpooling, where IT and smartphone technology combined with existing infrastructure to create an entirely new industry.
We expect additional momentum from outside investors from within and outside the healthcare industry as the most promising FemTech companies gain traction. This could help diversify the entire healthcare ecosystem: Given how neglected women’s health needs are, it’s not impossible for FemTech to attract more female researchers, investors and executives. Notably, more than 70% of FemTech companies in our analysis had at least one female founder, compared to 20% of new companies.
It’s important — not just for women. Women not only care about their own health, but are often the primary medical decision makers in their families. Therefore, better health outcomes for women also contribute to better, more equitable societies.
Photo:]metamorworks, Getty Images
