You can’t fix something until you understand why it’s broken. For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has prioritised a one-size-fits-men approach to medicine. Women’s bodies, hormones, and experiences have been sidelined: seen as too “complex,” “unpredictable,” or “niche” to be worth the time and investment. That bias has very real, lasting consequences. But now, technology is stepping in to fill the gap left behind. Let’s get into it.
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You can’t fix something until you understand why it’s broken. For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has prioritised a one-size-fits-men approach to medicine. Women’s bodies, hormones, and experiences have been sidelined: seen as too “complex,” “unpredictable,” or “niche” to be worth the time and investment. That bias has very real, lasting consequences. But now, technology is stepping in to fill the gap left behind. Let’s get into it.
You can’t fix something until you understand why it’s broken. For decades, the pharmaceutical industry has prioritised a one-size-fits-men approach to medicine. Women’s bodies, hormones, and experiences have been sidelined: seen as too “complex,” “unpredictable,” or “niche” to be worth the time and investment. That bias has very real, lasting consequences. But now, technology is stepping in to fill the gap left behind. Let’s get into it.
The gender health gap is the inequality in healthcare education, access, research and outcomes between men and women. It shows up in delayed or misdiagnoses, ineffective or non-existent treatments, and a general underestimation of women’s health issues.
Even though women tend to live longer, research found that we spend 25% more of our lives in poor health than men. Here’s why pharma has a big role to play in that:
Let’s start with research. Until the early 1990s, women were routinely excluded from clinical trials, even for conditions that affect them differently (or exclusively). The reason? Scientists believed that fluctuating female hormones would “skew” measurements. The result? Drugs and treatments that weren’t tested for safety or effectiveness in half the population.
It wasn’t until 1993 that the US FDA legally enforced the inclusion of women in clinical research. Even today, only a third of early-stage clinical trial data is broken down by sex. That means women are still being prescribed medications based on how male bodies respond. No wonder women are nearly twice as likely to experience adverse drug reactions.
If you’re not included in the data, you can’t be part of the solution.
Pharma is built on the development and sale of drugs, usually to treat symptoms after they appear. But women’s health, particularly vaginal health, thrives with prevention, early intervention, and long-term care.
Recurrent infections, for instance, don’t always need more medication. They need a deeper understanding of the wider context: what’s triggering them, what’s making them worse, and what the body needs to get back to balance. But preventative care doesn’t fit neatly into the pharma model built on selling short-term fixes.
This pharma-first system leaves many women trapped in cycles of treatment and retreatment, never really getting better, just desperately trying to manage symptoms.
In 2020, just 5% of global funding went toward women’s health research, with 4% going to cancer and just 1% to all other female-specific conditions. That means fewer breakthroughs, slower innovation, and an ongoing lack of solutions.
We’re living in a landscape where the only available treatments are drugs that were never designed with women in mind. Even as we begin to recognise how pharma has historically failed women, we don’t have the resources for new solutions.
Vaginal health is one of the clearest examples of pharma’s failure of women. Over 70% of women will experience a vaginal infection at some point (usually more than once). And yet, treatment is still trial and error.
BV (bacterial vaginosis) and thrush (vulvovaginal candidiasis) are two of the most common vaginal infections worldwide. The standard fix? Antibiotics or antifungals – often prescribed repeatedly, even when infections keep coming back.
Take BV, for example; more than 60% of cases return within 3 months of antibiotic treatment. With no alternative options, that’s not a solution; that’s a cycle.
Here’s the issue with relying on drugs alone:
Why is this still the norm?
Because we still don’t fully understand the vaginal microbiome. There's no clear definition for what a "healthy" vagina looks like or how to promote long-term wellbeing. When research is limited and treatments are outdated, women are left managing symptoms instead of getting real solutions.
Where pharma sees complexity, tech sees potential.
A new wave of women-led health technologies is emerging – one that puts women’s bodies, needs and lived experiences at the centre. From diagnostics and wearables to hormone tracking and at-home treatments, these tools are reshaping healthcare.
But this is about so much more than fancy new smart devices, it’s a shift in mindset. These new technologies are:
Tech is stepping in to fill the gap that pharma left behind – not to serve a “niche” but to meet the forgotten needs of half the global population. Women’s health innovation shouldn’t be treated as separate or optional; it’s essential to progress.
At UVISA, we’re developing a drug-free, light-based device to treat vaginal infections – without antibiotics or antifungals. Our solution is an insertable, reusable and designed to work with the body. It uses targeted UV and blue light to clear infection without harming the delicate vaginal microbiome.
Here’s how we’re doing things differently:
Our light therapy device targets harmful pathogens without wiping out protective bacteria, giving the vaginal microbiome a chance to recover and rebalance.
No more waiting for appointments or relying on repeat prescriptions. Our device is designed for privacy, autonomy and ease – allowing women to take a long-term, preventative approach to their vaginal health.
We’re not just developing a solution, we’re driving research to answer the questions that matter: Why do infections keep coming back? Why aren’t current treatments working? And how can we stop this cycle for good?
We’re changing how vaginal infections are treated – and that starts by doing things differently.
Pharma failed women by leaving us out of clinical research, taking a reactive approach and refusing to fund long-term solutions. Nowhere is that failure more obvious than in vaginal health.
Instead of investing in understanding the vaginal microbiome, developing personalised solutions and preventative care, pharma stuck with short-term fixes and left women to manage the fallout.
At UVISA, we’re working to change that by building solutions that are proactive, non-invasive, and actually reflect how you live, feel and heal. Because vaginal health isn’t niche, it’s foundational. And it’s time we treat it that way.
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