Gates Foundation pledges $2.5 billion for women's health research through 2030
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The Gates Foundation is committing $2.5 billion to fund women's health research over the next five years.
Why it matters: These projects, including several in the Boston area, aim to reduce the centuries-old gap in research to treat conditions that primarily affect women.
The big picture: The funding boost comes as Boston-area institutions are losing hundreds of million dollars in federal grants, whether from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation or other agencies being overhauled by the Trump administration.
Driving the news: Boston-area hospitals, universities and startups are getting funding, many in the millions, to advance women's health research.
- Tufts University will get funding to support maternal nutrition.
- Fenway Health will use its funding for data and advocacy around STIs.
- Several Harvard schools will use the funds to focus on maternal and vaginal microbiome, contraceptive technology and preeclampsia research.
Zoom in: Comanche, a Concord-based biopharma startup, previously received funding from the Gates Foundation to help develop an RNA-based medicine for pre-term preeclampsia.
- Now the company is getting $3 million from the Gates Foundation to continue its research, says Rasa Izadnegahdar, the foundation's director of maternal, newborn, child nutrition & health.
- The foundation will help Comanche fund its work and expand its research outside the U.S., says Scott Johnson, Comanche's CEO and co-founder.
Reality check: The Gates Foundation's funding may help get certain products to market faster or advance underrepresented areas of research, but much more support is needed to close the gender gap in medical research.
What they're saying: "I don't think it even starts to scratch the surface of that," Izadnegahdar, tells Axios.
- "With some sadness, I say it's the largest sort of cumulative investment in women's health R&D, but the overall investment in this area needs to be substantially greater."