Endometriosis: The Overlooked Frontier in Women’s Health Innovation
Sharing a post originally written by Dr. Luka Nićin (VC at Pace Ventures | PhD in Molecular Medicine | MBA in Biotech Strategy). Whether your motivation is compassion, easing the pain of someone you love, or even pure capitalism—we see you, and we applaud the work you’re doing to raise awareness and push for answers. Let’s keep making noise together. -Kara
"1 in 10 women. 7–10 years to diagnosis. $100B+ annual economic burden.
That’s endometriosis.
And yet it’s historically received less than 0.1% of NIH funding compared to cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Women’s pain hasn’t just been ignored — it’s been systematically underinvested in.
The opportunity?
1. Therapeutics beyond blunt hormonal tools.
2. Diagnostics that cut a decade-long delay to months.
3. Digital biomarkers that finally personalize care.
4. Fertility crossover where payers and employers are already spending.
The women’s health market isn’t niche. It’s half the population.
Endometriosis isn’t only an unmet need. It’s a generational venture opportunity hiding in plain sight.
Let’s get real.
For decades, women’s pain has been treated as background noise.
Dismissed. Normalized. Ignored.
Endometriosis is the perfect case study. It affects 1 in 10 women of reproductive age. Diagnosis takes an average of 7–10 years. Current treatments are outdated, invasive, or woefully inadequate. And yet: endometriosis research has historically received less than 0.1% of NIH funding compared to cancer or cardiovascular disease.
This isn’t just a moral failure. It’s a market failure.
Why It’s Underfunded
Bias baked into science. Women were excluded from most clinical trials until the 1990s. We’re still living with the hangover.
Symptoms dismissed. Pain, fatigue, infertility? Too often chalked up as “psychological” or “part of being a woman.” That stigma slowed research, trials, and drug approvals.
Fragmented patient voice. Endo patients don’t die quickly, they suffer chronically. Chronic suffering doesn’t mobilize lobbying dollars like mortality does.
The result: a $100B+ annual economic burden (missed work, failed fertility treatments, repeat surgeries) with barely a handful of commercial therapies in market.
Where the Opportunity Lies
Novel therapeutics. Hormone modulators and non-hormonal targets are only scratching the surface. There’s room for precision medicines, immune-modulating therapies, and gene-driven discovery.
Diagnostics. Non-invasive, early detection tools would collapse that 10-year diagnostic delay — creating the wedge for earlier intervention and better trial design.
Digital biomarkers + AI. Tracking pain patterns, symptom clusters, and treatment responses at population scale can finally personalize therapy.
Fertility crossover. Endo sits at the intersection of women’s health and reproductive medicine — a convergence where payers, employers, and governments are finally willing to spend.
Why This Is Venture-Scale
The women’s health market is not “niche.” It’s half the population.
Endometriosis alone represents a multi-hundred-billion-dollar global TAM — hidden in missed GDP, avoidable surgeries, wasted spend. As stigma collapses and capital flows (see Melinda Gates’ $100M push into women’s health research), this space will mint new category leaders.
And unlike overfunded areas where 20 startups chase the same GLP-1 or the same AI scribes, here the greenfield is wide open. The first company to deliver real, scalable relief for women’s chronic pain will not just be a unicorn — it will be a generational company.
The Bottom Line
Endometriosis is not just an unmet need. It’s among the largest overlooked commercial opportunity in healthcare.
The science is catching up. The stigma is breaking. The capital is starting to flow.
For founders: this is your moment to define the wedge. For VCs: this is your chance to be early, not late.
Women’s pain is no longer invisible. The only question is: who’s going to build the next giant by finally taking it seriously?"