Insight
‘I’ve been dismissed and ridiculed’ – why is birth control failing women
The pharma industry funnels only two per cent of annual revenue from contraceptives back into research and development
The contraceptive pill is often described as one of the most significant medical advances of the 20th century. So why is it still failing women?
Inextricably linked to the swinging 60s, free love and women’s liberation, the birth control pill was invented in the 1950s by the American biologist Dr Gregory Goodwin Pincus.
Despite its side effects, it was approved for release in 1960 and take-up was swift: within two years it was being used by 1.2 million American women.
Today, the pill is the most commonly prescribed form of contraception in the US, with approximately 25 per cent of women aged 15 to 44 who use contraception reporting using it as their method of choice.
But although its use has grown, women still have to put up with side effects, such as irregular bleeding, bloating, nausea, mood swings and headaches.
The normalisation of heavy periods and discomfort around menstrual health means that often they end up suffering in silence, says communications strategist and women’s health advocate, Hannah Wrathall from Wrapp Consulting.
“My personal experience discussing contraception with my GP has always focused on avoiding pregnancy or masking symptoms, never the impact on my overall health and wellbeing,” she tells Femtech World.
“When discussing non-hormonal options, I’ve been dismissed and ridiculed for questioning the safety of options like the pill and the coil.”
Hannah is not alone. Last year the women’s health strategy for England has revealed that 84 per cent of respondents recounted instances when they were not listened to by healthcare professionals, pointing to an urgent need to improve awareness, education and training among medical professionals.
“The stat speaks for itself. These are not isolated incidences but common occurrences for most women when they visit a GP or hospital.”
Alice Pelton, founder of the contraception review, advice and prescriptions platform, The Lowdown, agrees.
“Not being listened to by healthcare professionals is the everyday reality for millions of women worldwide.
“There’s a huge amount to cover in an eight-minute GP appointment and it’s almost impossible to talk a woman through everything in the right level of detail in that time.
“A Lowdown survey in 2021 showed that 87 per cent of The Lowdown community reported that they have not felt listened to by healthcare professionals, and of this, and 72 per cent of the instances were in relation to a reproductive or sexual health condition or treatment.
“The reasons behind this are a depressing smorgasbord of patriarchal nonsense, relentless underfunding and ignorance of women’s health issues, and double standards in the way we are treated by society and the medical establishment.”
Data shows little investment is put into large-scale clinical trials into new and existing forms of birth control.
Between 2017 and 2020, there were only 23 industry-funded clinical trials into contraceptives, compared to 600 for cardiovascular drugs and 140 for treatment relating to eye disorders.
Additionally, the pharma industry funnels only two per cent of annual revenue from contraceptives back into research and development.
“Side effects are notoriously difficult to track, study and solve, especially related to hormones, but we need more honesty on risks,” says Hannah.
“We hear from people that there is dissatisfaction with the current options so we need more research and investment to fill in those gaps and develop alternatives for all genders.
“I also think we need regular bias training for healthcare professionals to overcome their views on menstrual pain and women’s pain in general.”
Nighttime temperatures during pregnancy may be linked to a higher chance of an autism diagnosis in children, a recent study suggests.
The research tracked nearly 295,000 mother-child pairs in Southern California from 2001 to 2014 and linked warmer overnight temperatures with higher risk in early and late pregnancy.
Children of mothers exposed to higher than typical nighttime temperatures during weeks one to 10 of pregnancy had a 15 per cent higher risk of an autism diagnosis.
Exposure during weeks 30 to 37 was linked to a 13 per cent higher risk.
Lead author David Luglio, a post-doctoral fellow at Tulane University, said: “A key takeaway is that we identified specific windows when a mother and her developing child can be most affected by exposures to higher nighttime temperatures.
“This is critical and hopefully can help mothers prepare accordingly.”
The study is described as the first to examine how temperature may affect fetal neurodevelopment, the process by which a baby’s brain and nervous system form during pregnancy.
Extreme temperatures linked to increased risk were classified as above the 90th percentile, meaning 3.6°F hotter than average, and the 99th percentile, 5.6°F above average.
The association held even after researchers accounted for factors such as neighbourhood conditions, vegetation and fine-particle air pollution.
The study could not account for other factors such as access to air conditioning. Researchers did not find the same association with daytime temperatures, potentially because people spend more time away from home during the day.
“Heat waves are becoming more frequent, and people may only think of the dangers of daytime heat exposure,” said Mostafijur Rahman, assistant professor of environmental health sciences at Tulane University.
“These results indicate a strong association between high nighttime temperatures during pregnancy and autism risk in children and show that we need to think about exposure to heat around the clock.”
The study did not examine how higher temperatures at night might affect prenatal development, though Luglio said it is possible that warmer nights disrupt sleep for pregnant mothers.
Previous research has suggested insufficient sleep during pregnancy may be linked to a higher risk of neurocognitive delays in children.
“Extreme heat exposure during pregnancy has been linked to a range of adverse health outcomes, including prenatal neurodevelopment delays and complications with an embryo’s development of a central nervous system,” Luglio said.
“The goal of our study was to specifically explore the link between prenatal heat exposure and autism diagnoses for the first time.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed a delegation of parliamentarians to its Geneva headquarters for a high-level dialogue on women’s health and sexual and reproductive health and rights.
The meeting on 20 January 2026 focused on women’s health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, noncommunicable diseases (long-term conditions such as cancer and diabetes) and global health cooperation.
The exchange was convened by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, bringing together parliamentarians from Albania, Germany, Georgia, Mexico, Slovakia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sweden and Zimbabwe.
A central theme was the need to move beyond fragmented approaches to women’s health.
Dr Alia El-Yassir, WHO director for gender, equity and diversity, highlighted that outcomes are shaped by gender inequalities, social norms and structural barriers across the life course, requiring coordinated action across health systems.
Thirty years after the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark framework adopted in 1995 to advance gender equality and women’s rights, Dr Anna Coates, WHO gender equality technical lead, noted that progress on women’s health remains uneven.
She called for health systems that are more gender-responsive and able to address women’s health holistically across the life course.
Parliamentarians stressed that health is inseparable from wider social and economic policies, and called for stronger links between evidence, legislation and measurable impact at country level.
The meeting also focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights, where parliamentarians expressed interest in engaging on issues that directly affect their constituents.
Dr Pascale Allotey, director of WHO’s Department of Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal, Child, Adolescent Health and Ageing, outlined WHO’s life-course approach to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
She highlighted how needs evolve from birth to older age and how these are shaped by social determinants, humanitarian crises and demographic trends.
Dr Allotey underscored the role of parliamentarians in advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights and the importance of continued engagement with WHO to support evidence-based policy-making.
The agenda highlighted cancer as a growing priority for women’s health and for health system sustainability. Dr Prebo Barango, lead for the Cervical Cancer Elimination Initiative, Dr Meghan Doherty, consultant for palliative care, and Santiago Milan, lead for the WHO Global Platform for Access to Childhood Cancer Medicine, presented WHO’s integrated approach to cancer control.
Palliative care is treatment and support that aims to improve quality of life for people with serious illness by managing pain and other symptoms.
The discussion underlined the need for sustained political commitment and domestic investment to address noncommunicable diseases.
Parliamentarians shared national experiences showing the social and economic impacts of cancer on families and caregivers, reinforcing the importance of improving health literacy, reducing stigma and delivering people-centred care.
The meeting also addressed the state of global multilateralism.
Dr Jeremy Farrar, assistant director-general for health promotion, disease prevention and care, outlined how WHO has restructured to enhance efficiency, impact and capacity to support countries.
He reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to more systematic engagement with parliaments, recognising their role in shaping health policy, legislation and budgets.
The exchange concluded with a call for continued collaboration, including through partnerships with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the UNITE Parliamentarians Network for Global Health, ahead of the UNITE Global Summit 2026 on 6–7 March in Manila, the Philippines.
Agilent has FDA approval for a test to identify ovarian cancer patients who may be eligible for immunotherapy.
Agilent’s PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx is the only FDA-approved companion diagnostic to help identify patients with epithelial ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal carcinoma whose tumours express PD-L1 and who may be eligible for treatment with KEYTRUDA, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy.
A companion diagnostic is a test used alongside a specific treatment to show whether a patient is suitable for that therapy. PD-L1 is a protein on some cancer cells that helps tumours evade the immune system.
These cancers affect the reproductive system and the lining of the abdominal cavity.
The test enables pathologists to assess PD-L1 expression at diagnosis to support treatment decisions in a disease where options remain limited for many.
This is the seventh FDA-approved companion diagnostic indication for PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx for use with KEYTRUDA.
Nina Green, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s clinical diagnostics division, said: “Delivering effective precision oncology requires close collaboration between diagnostics and therapeutics, and this FDA approval reflects Agilent’s long-standing industry partnership in companion diagnostics.
“We are proud to enable pathologists to identify patients with EOC who may benefit from immunotherapy.
“As the first immuno-oncology approval for this disease, this milestone underscores our commitment to advancing precision medicine and expanding access to innovative cancer treatments worldwide.”
PD-L1 expression with this test was evaluated in the KEYNOTE-B96 clinical trial supporting its use to identify patients who may benefit from KEYTRUDA.
In the US, ovarian cancer caused approximately 12,730 deaths in 2025 and the five-year survival rate was 51.6 per cent between 2015 and 2021.
In addition to these cancer types, the test is indicated in the US to help identify patients with non-small cell lung cancer, oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma, cervical cancer, head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, triple-negative breast cancer and gastric or gastro-oesophageal junction adenocarcinoma who may benefit from treatment with KEYTRUDA.
The test was developed by Agilent with Merck as a companion diagnostic for KEYTRUDA.
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