The news: Even as investments in women’s healthcare grow, there’s an untapped $360 billion around health conditions that affect women differently and disproportionately, according to Women’s Health Access Matters (WHAM) latest annual report.

The key finding: Healthcare players must look beyond conditions that exclusively affect women (e.g. menopause) to capture the $360 billion "ghost market" of conditions that affect women differently and disproportionately.

• Beyond the $50 billion+ market for exclusive conditions like menopause, the "ghost market" covers diseases that manifest differently in women, per WHAM.
• The “Difference” Gap: This includes cardiovascular conditions and lung cancer, where symptoms and outcomes vary by gender and require specialized interventions.
• The “Disproportionate” Gap: Includes autoimmune conditions, where the vast majority (78%) of patients are female.

Why it matters: Women drive 80% of healthcare spending and decision-making for themselves and their households, yet women’s health remains underfunded and more expensive.

• Venture capital funding for women’s healthcare has tripled since 2019, but still only accounts for about 2.3% of healthcare VC, per WHAM.
• Women spent $39.3 billion in out-of-pocket healthcare care costs—$8.8 billion more than men in 2024, per a GoodRx report in March.
• On prescription drugs, women spend on average around 30% more than men, and significantly more on medications for certain conditions such as migraine (351% more), dry eye (326% more), depression (113% more), and acne (103% more), per GoodRx.

Implications for pharma and healthcare companies: Companies need to rethink how more common diseases are researched, developed, and communicated through a gender-aware perspective, or risk losing the attention of those key healthcare decision makers.

For example, smart ring health tracker Oura expanded its focus on women’s health in 2025, including adding pregnancy and perimenopause features and new partnerships like Maven Clinic. It helped the company reach an $11 billion valuation in October, up from $5.2 billion just 10 months earlier. Women now account for 60% of its members, and as the WHAM report notes “Oura didn’t change the ring–it changed the lens. Applying the same platform to women’s health unlocked broader adoption, stronger engagement, and outsized momentum.”

For a deeper dive into women’s health, read our “Women’s Healthcare Habits” report.