WHIS Releases New Report Revealing Why Breakthrough Women’s Health Therapies Fail to Reach Patients and How to Fix It
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) announced the release of its latest report, “What Payers Don’t Know Could Hurt You: How to Navigate Pre-Launch Payer Engagement as a Women’s Health Drug Developer”, offering critical insights into one of the most overlooked barriers in healthcare innovation: payer engagement.
Drawing on insights from the 2025 WHIS summit featuring Jim Kenney, a 38-year veteran of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, the report highlights a stark reality: strong clinical results alone are not enough to ensure patient access. Instead, the success or failure of a therapy often hinges on how early and effectively innovators engage with payers.
“Too often, life-changing therapies stall not because the science fails, but because the system around it isn’t prepared,” said Poppy Howard-Wall, Lead Producer of WHIS. “This report is about closing that gap and helping innovators translate clinical success into real-world impact.”
Key Findings
The report identifies payer engagement as a decisive factor in whether new therapies achieve meaningful uptake. When payers first encounter a product at launch, lack of familiarity frequently leads to restrictive coverage decisions, including prior authorization hurdles and limited formulary access that are difficult to reverse.
To address this, WHIS outlines three critical strategies:
Start Early with Structured Engagement: Engaging payers 6–12 months before approval helps ensure they understand the therapy’s value, reducing the likelihood of restrictive access at launch.
Leverage Pre-Approval Information Exchange (PIE): Sharing clinical and economic data early enables informed decision-making and avoids “cold launches” where payers are unprepared.
Adopt Outcomes-Based Contracting: Aligning payment with real-world outcomes helps mitigate payer risk and improve access for high-cost therapies.
The report also underscores common pitfalls, including underestimating patient populations, neglecting distribution planning, and leading with convenience rather than clinical value. all of which can derail otherwise promising launches.
A Unique Challenge and Opportunity in Women’s Health
Women’s health innovators face additional complexity due to limited precedent, thinner evidence bases, and evolving treatment landscapes. However, WHIS emphasizes that this creates a strategic advantage for companies that engage early and shape payer understanding from the outset.
“In categories where uncertainty is high, preparation becomes a competitive advantage,” the report notes.
Driving the Future of Women’s Health
The report reinforces WHIS’s mission to accelerate progress across the women’s health ecosystem by bringing together innovators, investors, payers, and providers to address systemic barriers and unlock better outcomes.
WHIS 2026 will take place October 13-15 October, convening over 1000 leaders and 150+ payers and providers to drive collaboration and innovation across the sector.
Early Access Tickets Now Available
Early access tickets for WHIS 2026 are now live, offering the lowest available pricing for a limited time. Due to high demand and limited availability, interested attendees are encouraged to join the waitlist to secure priority access and ensure they don’t miss out.
Join the waitlist and learn more: https://whisusa.com/events/whisusa
Media Contact:
Alice Brown
Senior Marketing Manager
alice.brown@kisacoresearch.com
About WHIS
The Women’s Health Innovation Summit (WHIS) is the leading global event dedicated to advancing women’s health, uniting stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem to accelerate innovation, investment, and impact.