While the size of the market is enormous, drug development and treatments for women’s health care still lag behind what is offered for men. There has been a renaissance in the past few years, however, led by investors and companies that have wrestled with determining exactly what encompasses women’s health and how to meet its challenges.

Two recent trials in cardiovascular disease took critical steps toward addressing ongoing and deadly disparities in cardiac care by focusing entirely on women.

Hope Medicine Inc. reported positive interim results for monoclonal antibody HMI-115 in a phase II endometriosis trial that saw the mean non-menstrual pelvic pain score reduced by 50%. “HMI-115 is a prolactin receptor blocker, and we're using it to treat endometriosis and some other diseases. It is a first-in-class new mechanism to treat endometriosis,” Hope Medicine CEO Nathan Chen told BioWorld.

Shockwave Medical, a unit of New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson Medtech, completed enrollment in the first prospective all-female study of percutaneous coronary intervention in complex disease. The real-world, all-comers trial will evaluate the benefits of coronary intravascular lithotripsy in female patients with calcified lesions.

Lisata Therapeutics Inc. has entered into a sponsored research agreement with the University of Cincinnati to investigate Lisata’s novel cyclic peptide product candidate, certepetide, in combination with bevacizumab in a preclinical animal model for the treatment of endometriosis.

Hope Medicine Inc. reported positive interim results for monoclonal antibody HMI-115 in a phase II endometriosis trial that saw the mean non-menstrual pelvic pain score reduced by 50%. “HMI-115 is a prolactin receptor blocker, and we're using it to treat endometriosis and some other diseases. It is a first-in-class new mechanism to treat endometriosis,” Hope Medicine CEO Nathan Chen told BioWorld.

A recent retrospective cohort study of Insight MMG highlighted potential of Lunit Inc.’s artificial intelligence-powered breast cancer screening tool in detecting “subtle signs of cancer” earlier for women.

According to World Health Organization data, endometriosis affects about 10% of reproductive-age females globally. That already makes endometriosis a wildly underresearched and underfunded disease in relation to its prevalence. Plus, Rama Kommagani thinks even 10% is an underestimation.

According to World Health Organization data, endometriosis affects about 10% of reproductive-age females globally. That already makes endometriosis a wildly underresearched and underfunded disease in relation to its prevalence. Plus, Rama Kommagani thinks even 10% is an underestimation. “Diagnosis is very underreported, particularly in low- and middle-income countries,” Kommagani, who is an associate professor of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine, told BioWorld.