In honour of Cervical Screening Awareness Week in the UK, which takes place from 15th to 21st June, we will be talking cervical tests, challenges facing development in women’s health and some practical solutions.
What is a cervical screening test?
Cervical screening, which used to be called a smear test, is a test to check the health of the cervix and help minimise the risks of cervical cancer. All women aged 25 to 64 are invited for cervical screening every 5 years and everyone with a cervix should be offered screening.
The test involves a tube-shaped tool, known as a speculum, being inserted into the vagina, which opens to allow the doctor to see the cervix and collect a sample of cells. Cervical screening checks for a virus called high-risk Human Papillomavirus (HPV). If high-risk HPV is present, then the sample will be checked for cervical cell changes.
Cervical screening is estimated to save around 5000 lives a year in the UK due to early diagnosis of cancerous cells enabling more effective treatment. Despite this, the NHS website states that currently around one third of eligible people do not come forward for their screening.
Why are 1 in 3 women turning down potentially life-saving treatment?
Sânziana Foia, founder of Papcup, for whom we have recently filed a patent application, has spoken about the historical lack of innovation in certain areas of women’s health which can make life-saving treatment an unnecessarily scary or unpleasant experience for women. After her first cervical screening, she began to wonder if there could be a less invasive alternative to sampling with speculums.
In response, she created Papcup, a self-testing device that detects HPV. Unlike the tests offered by the NHS today, Papcup is designed to spot high-risk HPV in menstrual blood using bio-sensor technology. The device does not require vaginal insertion and you do not even need to leave the comfort of your own home in order to perform the test. Papcup could provide a viable alternative for women who have suffered sexual trauma, or who are virgins or for any other reason feel uncomfortable about inserting something into their vagina.
Beyond the literal physical discomfort of cervical screening, many women may feel a general discomfort around their sexual and vaginal health. Taboo does not just stop women helping themselves but also prevents the health system and innovation landscape advancing, so that women face barriers accessing the help they need.
Is women’s health taboo?
Historically, the healthcare system has not been inclusive. Men have frequently been treated as the default patient in clinical practice and medical research, and women’s health and healthcare needs have often been marginalised.
In 1977, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) created a policy to exclude women of reproductive potential from Phase 1 and 2 clinical trials unless they had a life-threatening condition. It wasn’t until 1993 that the US Congress passed a law requiring the inclusion of women in clinical research.
As recently as 2019, a study by Harvard Medical School showed that women accounted for roughly 40% of participants in clinical trials for three of the diseases that most affect women — cancer, cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric disorders — despite representing 51% of the U.S. population.
Another recent study of the funding of 18 different types of cancers by the National Cancer Institute found that gynaecologic cancers (ovarian, cervical, uterine) ranked 10th, 12th and 14th, respectively, in funding normalized to years of life lost, whereas prostate cancer ranked 1st.
Women of colour face even greater underrepresentation in clinical trials and medical research, which often does not report the intersection of biological sex and race.
Even as technology advances, we see these gender discrepancies prevail. Modern digital health trackers and AI symptom checkers are frequently calibrated against baseline male physiology (heart rates, temperatures). This leaves women at risk of misdiagnoses or inaccurate fitness, heart, and fertility metrics when they are tracked via consumer apps.
This is why digital femtech tools specifically designed to monitor women’s health are so vital. Innovators in femtech are striving to undo centuries of neglect, finally collecting and analysing the data which could give us the answers on how to transform women’s lives.
Problems facing innovators in Femtech and how we solve them
Ignorance and taboo in relation to women’s health penetrates not only the health system, but the investment landscape too. We have seen the potential which femtech has to do what doctors have failed to do for years, but there are barriers to widespread deployment beyond regulatory medical approval.
Femtech investment struggles partly because venture capital is predominantly male. This creates demographic disproportionality, where investors struggle to understand or empathize with female-specific health needs. Additionally, the lack of historical exits in femtech means that, with no precedents to point to, many VCs hesitate to take early-stage risks.
Taboo also seeps into social media and online platforms, negatively impacting investment opportunities. These platforms frequently miscategorise women’s reproductive health content as inappropriate, creating marketing barriers that heavily deter risk-averse investors.
Overall, this leads to a severe lack of funding, with investment in Femtech making up for only around one to two percent of total health tech investment in 2025.
This lack of funding means that treatment in women’s health often lags behind other treatment and as a result women’s treatment is unnecessarily antiquated, invasive and ineffective.
Intellectual property for femtech
At Mathys and Squire, we are excited to work with intellectual property (IP) targeting Femtech and to support the inventors who are making progress in this area. This technology will combat problems facing women’s health, such as the physical and mental discomfort surrounding cervical screening.
In sectors with high rates of innovation, IP is essential for protecting inventions, attracting investment and supporting commercial security. A robust IP portfolio can assist Femtech innovators in obtaining funding by demonstrating concrete assets and the potential for market dominance without the risk of being copied by competitors.
For more information relating to patentability and managing intellectual property, please reach out to a member of our team.
