Biotech or Branding? How to Spot Real Science in Women’s Health
Most investors can’t tell a Phase 2 therapeutic from a wellness product with a good story. Here’s how to decode the science and the stakes.
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She wasn’t pitching. She was testifying to a system that still doesn’t fully believe in women’s health.
Sabrina Martucci Johnson wasn’t selling a dream. She was walking a molecule, step by clinical step, through the FDA. Under regulatory scrutiny. With endpoints that had to be defined, measured, and defended.
“We are not building apps. We are developing medicines,” she told me.
And in a space where “clinically backed” can mean anything or nothing, that sentence resonated deeply.
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The Problem: Therapeutics ≠ Femtech
There’s a growing wave of angel investors; smart, values-driven, ready to back the future of women’s health.
But many don’t know how to tell the difference between regulated therapeutics and consumer-facing products that use medical language without medical accountability.
One is a compound advancing through clinical trials. The other might be a supplement or sexual health app, backed by a survey, sold with a smile and no FDA oversight.
“Calling our work ‘femtech’ can understate the scientific and regulatory rigor,” Sabrina said. “For prescription therapeutics, we prefer ‘women’s health biotech.”
When investors conflate the two, they risk mispricing the entire category.
The Stakes: What Happens When We Get It Wrong
When a founder says “science-backed,” most angels don’t ask what that actually means. They ask about TAM, not endpoints. And that has consequences:
Founders doing real science get pushed into timelines that don’t match reality.
Investors write cheques based on sentiment, then walk away when they see a Phase 2 trial instead of a marketing roadmap.
And the field suffers with clinically promising solutions left unfunded, unloved, and unfinished.
“We stepped in where pharma stepped out,” Sabrina told me. “There were mid-stage assets already proven safe, already showing real promise that no one wanted to take across the finish line.”
She is talking about things like novel contraceptive options and FDA-regulated creams for arousal. Real science, real need, left on the shelf because someone thought it was “too niche.”
That’s not a funding gap. That’s a failure of imagination.
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What Public Markets Demand That Private Capital Often Doesn’t
Daré Bioscience is one of the only publicly listed companies focused solely on women’s health therapeutics. Going public wasn’t a vanity move. It was survival.
“Traditional VCs weren’t backing women’s health. The public markets let us access retail capital that believed in science,” she said.
But being public also meant real scrutiny. SEC filings. Governance. Quarterly milestones. And no hiding behind branding.
“Scientific credibility isn’t a narrative. It’s demonstrated through evidence, transparency, and rigor.”
Take their sildenafil cream - Viagra, reformulated topically for women.
It would have been easy to lean on male data. Instead, Sabrina and her team built new, validated patient-reported outcome tools, published them in peer-reviewed journals, and asked hard questions about what arousal actually looks like in women’s bodies. They didn’t shortcut the science. But they also didn’t let rigor delay access.
Daré is pursuing a dual-path strategy: near-term availability through compounding, while pursuing full FDA development in parallel.
That’s what credibility looks like in the wild.
3 Questions to Decode Credibility in Women’s Health
If you are evaluating a “science-backed” company in this space, start here:
What regulatory body, if any, is this product accountable to
If there’s no mention of FDA, EMA, or similar, dig deeper.
What phase of development is it in?
Is it still preclinical? Phase 1? Has it passed proof-of-concept with real endpoints?
What would failure look like and how would we know?
Without a defined endpoint or comparator group, success becomes a story, not a signal.
If founders can’t answer these or avoid the question it’s a sign that further diligence is needed before engaging seriously.
Investor Insight
Market size isn’t a moat. Mechanism, evidence, and regulatory clarity are. Understanding clinical phases is key to aligning expectations especially for investors new to therapeutics.
As Sabrina put it: “I wish more angel investors asked: ‘What is the clinical proof of concept? What’s the endpoint? Have you engaged with regulators?’ Those are the right questions. They show seriousness.”
Want to Learn How to Back Better Science?
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We teach values-aligned investors how to decode scientific claims and ask the diligence questions that help build confidence in early-stage decision-making.
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Are you building or backing similarly credible, under-the-radar solutions in women’s health?
We want to hear from you. Reach out privately or reply to this post. FHV curates brands and breakthroughs that deserve broader attention in the women’s health ecosystem.
Coming in July 2025:
🎧 Blindspot Capital: The Podcast
Formerly FemmeHealth Founders, our podcast relaunches this summer under a sharper lens and a bolder name. Blindspot Capital explores the undercurrents shaping health innovation from the deals that stall to the systems that silence. This season, we speak to the people shifting what gets seen, funded, and scaled. Confirmed guests include:
Ida Tin (Clue, FemTech Assembly) on founding the femtech category
Lisa Suennen (Venture Partner & Healthtech strategist) on how institutional capital moves.
Sabrina Johnson (CEO Daré Biosciences) on what it takes to build a publicly listed women’s health company
👉 Subscribe to Blindspot Capital wherever you get your podcasts, or listen directly on Substack.
I write weekly at FemmeHealth Ventures Alliance about capital, care, and the future of overlooked markets. If you are building, backing, or allocating in this space, I’d love to connect.
Disclaimer & Disclosure
This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, investment, legal, or medical advice, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Opinions expressed are those of the author and may not reflect the views of affiliated organisations. Readers should seek professional advice tailored to their individual circumstances before making investment decisions. Investing involves risk, including potential loss of principal. Past performance does not guarantee future results.
1000000% This is what is driving many of the issues we face. If you make the dividing line between "health" and "wellness" so blurry, it distracts from the real science.
Thank you for continuing to educate me with your informative posts. This clarity is important not only for investors but for all women, like myself, who are confused about what 'real science' is. It often seems like a marketing strategy until you dig deeper.