Wellcome Leap has announced a $50 million program called “The Missed Vital Sign” focused on addressing heavy menstrual bleeding (HMB) and transforming how menstruation is viewed in healthcare.
The program aims to reduce the time women wait for effective HMB treatment from 5 years to 5 months. HMB affects 1 in 3 women, making it more common than asthma or diabetes in reproductive-aged women, yet it remains largely ignored by healthcare systems. Every minute in the US, a woman requires a blood transfusion due to her menstruation. Up to 50% of reproductive-aged women (approximately 950 million globally) are iron deficient, with chronic HMB being a major contributor.
The impact extends beyond physical health. Girls miss an average of 9 days of school per year in the UK due to menstruation, and women with HMB miss around 3.6 working weeks annually, costing the US economy more than $94 billion each year. Those experiencing HMB also have rates of anxiety and depression three times higher than the average female population.
The new program will focus on three key areas:
- Developing tools to identify women with HMB that leads to iron deficiency within 3 months
- Identifying causal factors for HMB to develop new, non-hormonal treatments
- Creating patient stratification tools to personalize management and ensure effective treatment within 2 months
Dr. Jackie Maybin from the University of Edinburgh and NHS Lothian will lead the program. Wellcome Leap is soliciting abstracts by May 16, 2025, with full proposals due by June 30, 2025. The program is open to universities, research institutions, companies, and non-profit organizations.
