The untapped trillion-dollar opportunity in women’s health

Writer: Mirella Franzese

October 2025 — Women’s health remains one of the most underinvested areas in medicine, a social, public, and economic imperative that also represents a missed opportunity for investors, especially as the U.S. scales back health funding.

“Women’s health research has always been underfunded, and federal funding cuts over this past year only deepen the gap,” said Michael Annichine, CEO of Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation.

Key segments of the healthcare market remain largely untapped, despite sizable potential returns. For context, just 1% of healthcare research and innovation is invested in female-specific conditions beyond oncology, according to a McKinsey study.

Opportunities in pharmaceuticals are significant, as sex-based differences affect how drugs are processed and how they act on the body — influencing treatment outcomes and efficacy. This is seen particularly with cardiovascular medicines and antidepressants.

Yet, capital invested in women’s health and research can unlock major financial returns through spillover benefits. These include better outcomes for children, more productive workforces, fewer caregiving burdens, and less strain on public resources, all of which translate into stronger economies.

“When women’s health is viewed as capital rather than cost, results appear in laboratories, workplaces and households over time,” wrote Amira Ghouaibi, head of the Global Alliance for Women’s Health at the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In general, women live 25% more of their lives in poor health compared to men, according to a WEF report.

Closing this gap would add seven healthy days per year for each woman, generating an estimated $1 trillion to annual global GDP by 2040 — a $3 return for every $1 invested.

Similarly, investing in treatments for endometriosis — a condition that affects only women — has a market potential of $180 billion to $250 billion, comparable to markets for high-cost conditions such as diabetes.

The problem is that investments in women’s health research are lower now than in the past two decades. For example, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the U.S. government’s primary medical research agency — cut its budget allocation for women’s health from 13.5% in 2005 to just 10% this year, according to reproductive health research firm The Guttmacher Institute.

According to Annichine, fields that have historically received little attention — such as maternal health, menopause, endometriosis, and pelvic floor disorders — are at even greater risk now.

“The areas that were under-resourced before are even more so today, ” he told Invest:. “This limits our ability to move discoveries forward, train the next generation of scientists, and ultimately improve care for women and their families… There will be inefficiencies in our care delivery system.”

More specifically, the recent federal funding cuts are expected to have a disproportionate impact on the delivery of sexual and reproductive health and HIV services. Planned Parenthood, which supports U.S. women’s health services and abortions, could lose nearly $700 million in federal funding, leading to the closure of as many as 200 facilities nationwide.

Shutdowns at this scale could be devastating for women. Maternity deaths in the U.S. are already double, if not triple, the rate for most other high-income countries, including Australia, the U.K., Canada, France, and Germany, according to a 2024 Commonwealth Fund study. Of the 14 countries surveyed in the study, the U.S. was the only one without mandated maternity leave and without pregnancy costs covered by medical insurance. 

“The health of our society depends on ensuring women are healthy, not just during reproductive years, but across their lifespans,” said Annichine.

Despite systematic underfunding, women’s health initiatives are gaining momentum in the U.S. Leading organizations like Magee-Womens Research Institute & Foundation are reframing women’s health beyond reproductive biology to address some of these critical gaps and improve outcomes for women at every stage of life.

Industries outside of medicine are taking notice as well.  Anywhere Real Estate (formerly Realogy) and 84 Lumber — a leading supply builder — partnered with Magee to contribute to women’s health research.

More recently, the Gates Foundation announced a $2.5 billion commitment to accelerate R&D focused on enhancing women’s health in five high-impact areas: Obstetric care and maternal immunization, maternal health and nutrition, gynecological and menstrual health, contraceptive, and sexually transmitted infections.

“Women’s health is not just a philanthropic cause — it’s an investable opportunity with immense potential for scientific breakthroughs that could help millions of women,” said Anita Zaidi, president of the Gates Foundation’s Gender Equality Division, in a press release.

“What’s needed is the will to pursue and follow through.”

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