Rising menopause market captures generational turn

The big picture: Drugs, holistic treatments and apps and wearables for menopause accounted for a market worth nearly $18 billion in 2024 that's forecast to reach $27 billion by 2030, per a new report from Women's Health Access Matters and KPMG.

• The market is surging in large part because of a generational shift that's seen Gen X and millennial women become far more vocal about the weight gain, hot flashes, brain fog and other telltale symptoms, posting online about their ordeals and pushing providers for better answers.
• The market includes a new wave of telehealth companies that have cropped up in the last few years, offering virtual clinics for menopause and perimenopause (the period between a woman's reproductive years and menopause).

What they're saying: The younger generations are saying "We're not going to sit in silence and suffer. Are you kidding?'" said Stephanie Faubion, director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Women's Health. "That's great now that we're having more of a conversation about it because women are demanding solutions."

• That new thinking, in some ways, dovetails with a broader trend in which frustrated patients are going to new lengths to take control of their health, seeking to extend the length and quality of their lives.
• "You cannot take away menopause and perimenopause care from thinking about longevity — from thinking about how to have a healthy brain, a healthy heart, healthy bones. It's all connected," said Joanna Strober, CEO of virtual women's health company Midi Health.

Yes but: For too long, menopause has been undertreated.

• That partly stems from a 2002 federal study of hormone replacement therapy that was abruptly suspended when researchers concluded the risks of blood clots, stroke and breast cancer outweighed its benefits, said Faubion, who is also medical director for The Menopause Society.
• Subsequent research has determined hormone therapy can be a safe and effective option for many women. It's slowly becoming more available, but patients are still regularly misdiagnosed, she said.
• "They've seen a cardiologist and a psychiatrist and an OB-GYN and a urologist, and none of them are actually putting the whole picture together," Faubion said. "So they're costing the system a ton of money, and nobody is like wrapping it up with a bow on top and saying, 'Here's what you have and here's what we can do.'"

That's increasingly driving patients to a mix of wellness, beauty, and longevity-focused solutions that align with their values and lifestyles.

• In recent years, it's spawned a number of menopause-focused companies with celebrity backing such as Stripes by actress Naomi Watts, which sells menopause products, and a soon-to-launch health and wellness platform called Respin by actress Halle Berry.
• Watts released a new book this week about living with menopause.

• "People have all of a sudden discovered that women in midlife who have careers have money and they're demanding some solutions which don't exist," Faubion said.

Zoom in: Midi Health — which raised $63 million in September from investors including Tory Burch and Amy Schumer — is virtually connecting patients to providers who can prescribe hormone therapy, supplements, and lifestyle hacks.

• "I want to sell women's health like a beauty company. No one's ever done that before," Strober of Midi Health said. "Women want to feel beautiful. They want to age beautifully. They want to feel good about themselves and I think that's how your health care should make you feel."
• Primary care struggles to profit from menopause care. Strober credits the telehealth flexibilities from the pandemic and nurse practitioners who are interested in working from home with Midi's success.

Reality check: There's little data to support the efficacy of natural supplements or beauty products that are widely pushed online and on TV, doctors told Axios. Many lack safety studies.

• Certain medications, in addition to hormone therapy, can directly treat the symptoms associated with menopause. And common over-the-counter supplements like vitamin D and calcium can help prevent bone loss associated with menopause.
• Interventions like healthy eating, exercise or common supplements might be a good idea, but aren't necessarily proven to help menopausal symptoms, said Memorial Sloan Kettering gynecologic medical oncologist Andrea Tufano-Sugarman.
• "You can't lifestyle your way out of these symptoms," Tufano-Sugarman said. "There's a lot you can do but, but I don't think there's one supplement you could take that's going to cure all of it. There's definitely an opening for companies to come in and market to a very vulnerable population."

The bottom line: Women should push for an answer if they aren't getting one from their doctor.

• But they also need to scrutinize who's providing answers and engage with their primary care doctor about the solutions they ultimately find, Faubion said.