Can the Barbie movie’s spotlight on women’s issues spill over to pharma marketing and healthcare? Agency says yes.

It’s a Barbie world lately, but could the popularity of the summer blockbuster movie translate to real parity for women in areas like healthcare and pharma advertising? After all, (minor spoiler alert) the ending does connect to women’s health.

Unlike the many pink-hued marketing and licensing deals, pharma doesn’t have a direct tie, but CMI Media Group researchers and leaders believe that women’s health is having a moment — whether driven by Barbie-inspired empowerment or concerns about new legislation around women’s reproductive care. Pharma marketers should be paying attention as not only women advocate for better healthcare, treatments and representation, but also some allied investors, patient groups and competitors.

Jessica Federer

Private equity investing in US women’s healthcare companies reached an all-time high of $3.3 billion last year, according to a recent BCG report, which predicted the space is “on the cusp of a major buildout.” Former Bayer chief digital officer Jessica Federer, who joined women’s health investor Supernode Ventures last year, recently said it’s time “for a billion-dollar women’s health fund.”

There have also been drug advances. The FDA approved the first-ever over-the-counter birth control Opill earlier this month, and in May, it greenlit Astellas’ Veozah (fezolinetant), to treat the menopause vasomotor symptoms known as hot flashes. Daré Bioscience women’s health biopharma, along with Organon, launched its first product, Xaciato, to treat bacerial vaginosis this year, while Pfizer teamed with Myovant Sciences to develop and market a combination relugolix medicine as a first-ever treatment for heavy bleeding associated with uterine fibroids as Myfembree in 2021, and added an indication for pain associated with endometriosis last year.

Still, the general trend in pharma has more often deemphasized investments in women’s health. In March, Bayer said it will no longer focus investments in R&D for women’s health products, although it will support pipeline candidates. Merck also spun out its women’s health business, along with legacy brands and biosimilars, as Organon in 2021.

However, Organon is pushing ahead in women’s health, building out its pipeline and “bringing a lot of shots on goal” for new treatments, R&D chief Sandra Milligan told Endpoints during a recent interview for the 2023 Women In Biopharma.

While investments and R&D pipelines for women’s health are important, some of the other advances pharma companies can make are smaller adjustments rather than billion-dollar gambles. Some of CMI Media Group’s ideas include ensuring equity in clinical trials, educating people on how different diseases affect men and women differently, and highlighting women in disease awareness and product advertising.

Amanda Preto

“The common thread through all of this is that it’s just so important that healthcare brands understand and engage with the female population,” said CMI Media’s VP of marketing Amanda Preto. “There’s an opportunity for … advertising, messaging and creative in general to better understand the uniqueness and nuances of the female population and act accordingly.”

One opportunity the agency sees right now for pharma is women’s sports, said Melanie Lysaght, director of innovation at CMI. The upside is the chance to be associated with the combination of women’s health, gender equality and empowerment that women’s sports embody.

“The fandom is not just women, it’s across the gender spectrum, so you’re got fans and people excited about elevating women and women breaking gender stereotypes – and women challenging societal norms,” she said. “It’s such a ripe opportunity for pharma advertisers to get involved and to support that halo effect.”

Women’s soccer, basketball and golf are three particularly “hot” sports. The current Women’s World Cup is expected to top 2 billion total viewers during its one-month run which is almost double the 1.1 billion people that watched the last games in 2019, while the college women’s March Madness basketball final rivaled the men’s game with a peak 12.6 million and overall average 9.9 million viewers.

“It’s not really a moment, it’s been an accumulation of a bunch of efforts over decades,” said Lysaight who was a college swimming athlete, adding it’s “exciting to see the efforts finally have some success.”

Another area is in education and awareness around gender differences in disease. Autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer’s and osteoporosis, for example, all affect women more often than men, but others like cardiovascular disease and stroke can present symptoms differently in women.

“There’s opportunity for education for both female patients and caregivers, as well as doctors to recognize these differences and educate on them, so they’re not missed or misdiagnosed or sometimes even simply ignored,” Preto said. “… They’re just a lot of nuances, and a lot of different facets related to ethnicity and race as well as age (for women). By better educating the patient and the HCP, we can just help forge that deeper connection and ultimately, the better health outcome that we’re all striving for.”

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