Hosted at Bruntwood SciTech’s Circle Square, in the heart of Manchester’s Knowledge Quarter, FemHealth Integrates 2025 marked a major milestone as Life Science Integrates’ first-ever event dedicated to women’s health and FemTech.
For far too long, women’s health has been underfunded, underrepresented and underserved, but this vibrant event made it clear—radical change is happening, and everyone has a role to play to keep up this momentum. From redefining clinical trial representation and breaking long-held taboos, to improving investment and data sharing, the day’s discussions delivered not just bold ideas, but practical, actionable solutions.
With a palpable ‘can-do’ energy in the room, FemHealth Integrates 2025 championed a positive movement for change to benefit women, men and future generations alike. In this Industry Insight Report, we unpack the biggest takeaways, most pressing challenges and transformative opportunities shaping the future of women’s health.
Despite making up 51% of the population, women’s health has long been disregarded, with outdated assumptions still shaping medical research and practice today. The consequences are profound, with women spending 25% more of their lives in poor health than men. This disparity isn’t just about funding gaps—it reflects deep-rooted systemic biases across drug development, clinical research, healthcare delivery and broader societal attitudes toward women’s health.
Hosting FemHealth Integrates 2025 in the North of England also brought to light the stark regional disparities in women’s health outcomes. While the gender health gap is a national issue, women in the North face even greater challenges, from lower life expectancy to reduced access to specialist care:
“Girls born in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber in 2020 can expect to live in good health to 59.7, 62.4 and 62.1 years, respectively. And that is four years less good quality living than national average, and up to six years less than girls born in the south east.”
A striking illustration of the gender gap was the long-standing use of an ‘average male’ as the default human in drug development, biotech R&D and beyond. This bias has led to severe consequences, from joint replacements designed for male anatomy that don’t align with the way women move, to the now-infamous case of zolpidem, a widely prescribed sleep medication. Originally tested on male subjects, it was later discovered that women metabolized zolpidem differently, leading to excessive drowsiness and an increase in car accidents.
“When I first came to the UK, I was stunned by how non-existent female health felt. No one really talked about it. Even today, we see a lack of inclusivity in clinical trials, device development and even basic healthcare provision. If we’re serious about improving outcomes for women, we have to stop treating female health as an afterthought and start embedding it at the core of research and innovation.”
Clinical trials remain one of the biggest battlegrounds in closing the gender health gap. Until 1993, women were legally excluded from participating in clinical research, leaving a legacy that persists today. While female representation in trials has improved, it remains imbalanced.
Women are much less likely to enrol onto trials than men, often due to concerns about fertility, distance from home or caregiving responsibilities. Yet, studies have shown that female-led research teams recruit more female participants—highlighting the urgent need for more women in clinical investigator roles. To bridge this gap further, speakers highlighted the benefits of bringing trials closer to communities, offering better compensation and introducing greater flexibility to encourage more female engagement.
“We’re 30 years on from when the law changed, yet we still see gender gaps in clinical trials. In one cardiovascular study we’re currently recruiting for, 68% of participants are male. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in women—so why are they still being underrepresented? If more women knew these stats, I think they’d be more inclined to take part in research and demand better representation.”
Shockingly, even when women are included in clinical trials, their participation is often superficial. While pharmaceutical companies are beginning to wake up to the importance of sex-specific data, the vast majority of clinical trials still lack adequate analysis and reporting of sex differences in drug efficacy and safety.
Beyond clinical research, discussions highlighted how gender biases continue to shape patient experiences. Women often struggle to be taken seriously when seeking a diagnosis for female-specific conditions like endometriosis, which takes an average of 8 years to diagnose. Many report being dismissed or misdiagnosed, with their pain frequently attributed to anxiety, stress or ‘normal’ menstrual symptoms, delaying essential care.
Addressing the gender health gap requires a systemic overhaul. Our industry must rethink research priorities, better accommodate the needs of women, ensure meaningful female representation in trials and embed sex-based data analysis into regulatory frameworks—not as an afterthought!
While awareness of the gender health gap is growing, turning knowledge into action is critical. And this requires better access to funding, smarter data-sharing and stronger collaboration across the industry. A major challenge raised during panel sessions at FemHealth Integrates was the lack of female investors. In the UK, only 15% of angel investors are women – and of that 15%, 50% of these investors are in London.
When women control investment decisions, funding flows more readily into female health solutions and female-founded companies. Despite FemTech being one of the fastest-growing sectors in life sciences, only 2% of venture capital funding goes to female-led startups.
“The challenges female founders encounter are broadly similar to those trying to break into VC or investment as a career. The industry tends to look a certain way—predominantly middle-aged white men. This can be a significant barrier, especially for founders trying to pitch innovations in women’s health, a field that many investors simply don’t understand.”
Data accessibility and sharing was another major theme to emerge at FemHealth Integrates 2025, with debate around the explosion of female health apps—from period trackers to menopause symptom management tools. While these innovations have empowered women with greater insight into their wellbeing, some questioned whether this wealth of data is being effectively harnessed to improve clinical research, treatment strategies and public health policy. With better standardisation and interoperability, this data could provide a wealth of valuable insights that could inform early diagnosis and treatment pathways. The potential is huge.
“We have this explosion of FemTech apps collecting millions of data points on women’s health—yet much of this data remains siloed, underutilised, or locked away in proprietary systems. Imagine the impact if we could integrate and analyse this data at scale, using it to drive research, inform treatment pathways, and ultimately improve outcomes for women worldwide.”
Taking a more collaborative approach to data sharing with FemTech companies, healthcare providers and researchers working together to create unified data ecosystems could drive real clinical advancements. A call to action came from the speakers: can we build an entity to aggregate all the valuable health data each FemTech sits on to fuel advancements in women’s health?
Another big theme in women’s health that was reflected in discussions at FemHealth Integrates 2025 is the pressing need to shift cultural perceptions of women’s health—both within the healthcare system and broader society. For too long, women’s health concerns have been shrouded in stigma. In women over 50, for example, many feel uncomfortable to talk openly about sexual health, a burden that has resulted in this demographic facing a substantial increase in sexually transmitted infections in recent years.
Normalising conversations around female health issues, ensuring they are no longer sidelined in medical, workplace and public discourse is key here.
Panellists explored the role of diverse leadership in driving cultural change. Women remain underrepresented in executive and decision-making roles across biotech, pharma and clinical research. The economic case for change highlights overwhelming evidence that companies with diverse leadership outperform their peers.
“When women come together with purpose and vision, they don’t just navigate change—they lead it. Cultural change starts from within, and we can’t afford to wait for someone else to make it happen.”
Workplace policies and organisational structures can help, or hinder progress. Flexible working, equitable parental leave and additional female health provisions are key enablers for creating a culture where women can thrive. But speakers stressed that culture must be embedded throughout an organisation, with every employee having a role to play:
“Culture doesn’t just happen. Every single person in an organisation plays a role in shaping it. If we want to create a more inclusive industry, we all need to take responsibility—calling out outdated behaviours, pushing for better policies, and ensuring women have the same opportunities to succeed.”
From normalising conversations on sensitive health issues to ensuring diverse leadership and inclusive workplace policies, it’s clear that real progress requires systemic change at every level.
Momentum for change in women’s health is stronger than ever—but lasting progress demands sustained action and collective commitment. In a time of political and economic uncertainty, the continued push for equitability is especially critical.
The wide range of valuable, often personal, insights shared, social norms challenged and tangible solutions proposed at FemHealth Integrates 2025 made one thing clear—real progress is happening, and the future of female healthcare is bright. By continuing to invest, encourage more female representation, innovate, and collaborate on women’s health issues, we have a clear roadmap towards closing the gender health gap.
Crucially though, this is not just a women’s issue—it’s a societal one. Men must be engaged as allies and advocates to build a truly equitable healthcare system. As such, it’s time for all of us to stand up for a future where healthcare serves everyone fairly, regardless of gender. Now is the time to turn words into action and build a world where women’s health is no longer an afterthought, but a priority.
