Women’s Health Investment: Rhetoric vs. Reality

In the second part of her interview with Pharmaceutical Executive, Sandra Coufal, MD, CEO of Toragen, argues the gap between rhetoric and reality remains stubbornly wide.

Coufal challenges the assumption that increased investor interest has translated into meaningful funding for women-specific treatments, pointing to a structural flaw in how market opportunity is calculated.The core issue, she explains, is that total addressable market estimates for many diseases are built on clinical trial data that has historically skewed male. Because women are underrepresented in those trials, the true commercial opportunity for women’s indications is chronically underestimated, making them appear less attractive to investors even when the unmet need is significant.

Toragen is uniquely positioned to navigate this dynamic. Its HPV E5 inhibitor addresses indications that span both sexes: HPV-positive head and neck cancer affects predominantly men, cervical cancer affects only women, and genitourinary cancers, penile, vulvar, vaginal, and anal, affect both.

Coufal notes that the genitourinary cancers are underreported and underdiscussed despite rising incidence with age. For investors willing to look past surface-level optics, she argues, Toragen’s cross-sex portfolio represents a more complete and accurate picture of the addressable market.