HLTH25: Investors, founders press for radical progress on women's health

By Anastassia Gliadkovskaya Oct 23, 2025

….“There is a large opportunity for life sciences organizations to invest in the research and development of treatments that account for sex-based differences, enabling meaningful market differentiation,” the report said.

Investors are paying attention. Tuesday at HLTH, the Women’s Health Fund described a newly launched vehicle for investing in women’s health companies. Dubbed WH1 and unveiled earlier this month, it is a life-sciences-focused fund of funds — planning to invest in experienced fund managers billions in assets under management— to bring them into women’s health. Founding supporters include the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Venture Fund, the Society for Women’s Health Research and Women’s Health Access Matters among others. 

The Women's Health Fund was founded by Jessica Federer, formerly Bayer’s chief digital officer. After seeing statistics about gender gaps in research, she recognized it to be a “very fixable problem,” she previously told Cure. 

“We didn’t include women in clinical trials until 1993. We didn’t study women. We don’t have enough data on women,” Federer, managing partner at the fund, reportedly said at another HLTH event. “We owe women decades of scientific advancement, and now it’s time to deliver.” READ MORE