From unmet needs to real-world solutions: putting women’s health at the heart of FP10
In 2020, only 1% of global research and development (R&D) funding was allocated to health conditions specific to women beyond cancer. This funding gap reflects a wider challenge: how can research better address unmet health needs and ensure that scientific progress translates into better prevention, diagnosis and care?
As the European Union prepares its next Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, FP10, this question will shape Europe’s research priorities and its capacity to turn scientific discoveries into practical solutions.
Re-Imagine Europa’s White Paper, Rethinking Global Health Research & Innovation: A European Strategy for FP10, explores how Europe can rethink its approach to Global Health Research and Innovation (R&I). Among its proposals, two stand out: making women’s health a strategic research priority and strengthening the pathway from scientific discovery to real-world application.
Putting women’s health higher on the research agenda
From gynaecological conditions to menopause, significant gaps remain in our understanding of women’s health and in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of related conditions. Unlike infectious diseases, which benefit from a dedicated EU research partnership, women’s health has no comparable structure. The lack of sex-disaggregated data in clinical research also has a real cost, contributing to an estimated €52 billion a year in EU healthcare expenses linked to adverse drug reactions that disproportionately affect women. Addressing these gaps requires more than isolated projects, it calls for sustained investment and a coordinated, long-term approach.
Re-Imagine Europa therefore proposes a European Women’s Health and Precision Prevention Moonshot: a flagship research and innovation initiative focused on prevention, diagnostics, precision medicine and clinical research. The aim is to make women’s health a central priority in Europe’s research agenda, supporting better evidence, earlier diagnosis and more tailored approaches to prevention and treatment.
For FP10, this proposal raises a broader question: how can Europe use its research programmes to address persistent gaps in healthcare while supporting scientific advances that respond to people’s needs?
Building a more connected innovation ecosystem
Setting the right priorities is only part of the challenge. Scientific discoveries must also move beyond the laboratory to become treatments, technologies and services that can be used in practice.
To address this, Re-Imagine Europa proposes an Integrated European Health Innovation Ecosystem, connecting the different stages of the innovation process — from discovery science and clinical development to manufacturing, regulation and deployment. Rather than creating new structures, the proposal focuses on improving coordination across existing European programmes and instruments.
A more integrated approach would strengthen links between researchers, industry and other stakeholders, making it easier to move promising discoveries towards practical application. It could also support Europe’s capacity to develop and scale health innovations, connecting scientific excellence with industrial capabilities and the systems needed to bring innovations to people.
These proposals address two connected challenges: ensuring that health research responds to unmet needs and helping scientific advances reach the people who could benefit from them.
Rethinking Europe’s investment in health
More broadly, Global Health R&I should be seen not only as an investment in healthcare, but also as a driver of Europe’s innovation capacity, resilience and competitiveness. Through what it calls the Ripple Effect framework, the White Paper shows how investment in health research generates returns across biotechnology, manufacturing, digital technologies and international partnerships.
As discussions around FP10 continue, the publication calls for a more connected approach to research priorities, innovation and implementation,one that responds to unmet health needs while strengthening Europe’s ability to turn knowledge into lasting benefits for citizens.
Read the full White Paper, Rethinking Global Health Research & Innovation: A European Strategy for FP10, to explore all its recommendations.