Women’s oncology is emerging as a major growth market, with significant opportunities to improve care beyond breast cancer.
The sector—spanning therapeutics, diagnostics, medical devices and care delivery—is projected to grow from roughly $65 billion to $75 billion today to $100 billion to $110 billion by 2030, according to a report from PwC.
Advances in precision medicine, early detection technologies, and integrated care models, along with new therapeutics, will drive the market's growth, according to the report.
The report focuses on women-specific cancers, including breast, ovarian, endometrial, cervical, vulvar and vaginal cancers. Gaps in investment and innovation remain for gynecologic cancers, while breast cancer has benefited from consistent funding and interest, PwC analysts noted.
Treatments for women’s cancers other than breast cancer remain comparatively underfunded. National Institutes of Health research funding remains significantly skewed towards breast cancer. For example, 2025 data suggest ovarian cancer receives approximately $43,000 in NIH research funding per death, compared with nearly $70,000 for breast cancer, the report noted. When compared to funding for prostate cancer, the gap is significantly more dramatic, with prostate cancer receiving nearly three times more NIH funding per death than ovarian cancer despite a dramatically lower mortality burden.
Endometrial, vulvar and vaginal cancer all remain underfunded and underserved, the report states. There are also gaps in cervical cancer care, given that younger and underserved women are often unable to access preventive screening and vaccination.
There are major unmet gaps and significant clinical burden in women’s oncology, especially given that breast and gynecologic cancers account for nearly half of all cancer cases in women.
Advances in various sectors across women’s oncology solutions continue, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. About 70% of the market value for women’s oncology is in the pharmaceutical industry, with breast cancer leading the advances. These pharmaceutical approaches can be expanded to gynecologic cancers as well, where treatment options remain limited, according to the report.
Care delivery is also key to the growth of the women’s oncology sector, especially given that “women are nearly twice as likely as men to develop invasive cancer before age 50.” With improved survival rates of younger female cancer patients, there is an increased interest in care beyond treatment, including quality of life treatments and fertility preservation.
Physicians aim to further develop oncofertility programs, while reducing cost barriers due to lack of coverage. Although fertility preservation is considered to be a standard component of cancer care by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), access remains uneven and out-of-pocket costs are substantial.
A key area of women’s oncology that has significant unmet needs is early detection. In ovarian cancer in particular, early detection is crucial to five-year survival rates, dropping from over 90% at Stage I to roughly 20% at Stage IV.
Reducing barriers to preventive care is key to improving access, which some companies are beginning to address by bringing screening closer to patients through mobile mammography programs and at-home cervical cancer tests.
All these sectors combined create a unique breadth of opportunity for investors, as sustained investment continues. Nearly 400 private funding events occurred from 2020 to 2025, totaling over $6.5 billion and showcasing the volume of activity in the sector, PwC noted in the report.
As women’s oncology transitions from a breast cancer-centered space to a broader, multi-indication ecosystem, there are active opportunities for investment. Pharmaceutical companies can utilize artificial intelligence and advanced analytics to accelerate biomarker discovery, patient stratification and clinical development in gynecologic cancers. PwC analysts also recommend that companies prioritize investment in areas with high unmet needs and build commercial infrastructure that can serve younger patients by incorporating survivorship and fertility.
Device and diagnostics companies should also integrate AI into their practices by adding it to their standard clinical workflows and screenings. These companies should also accelerate the development of risk stratification and early detection tools in gynecologic oncology, where the diagnostic gap is widest. Ovarian cancer's late-stage detection profile remains one of the most consequential unmet needs in the category. Companies also should target surgical guidance and intraoperative tools for gynecologic procedures, where adoption of precision instrumentation is still early relative to breast cancer and other surgical subspecialties.
Similarly, providers were recommended to build care models that follow the patient beyond treatment through survivorship, recurrence monitoring and long-term quality-of-life management, particularly for patients entering survivorship in their 30s and 40s. PwC also urged investment in care coordination that focuses on a combination of factors including fertility preservation, mental health, endocrine management, supportive services and oncology.
There is significant underutilization of evidence-based early detection and genetic testing across gynecologic indications due to lack of coverage, which is a gap that can be addressed by both payers and employers. Investments should also be made in reimbursement for outcomes across survivorship and recurrence to create value-based oncology models, PwC analysts noted.
Employers specifically need to focus on navigation and care coordination benefits that allow patients to manage their often-complex treatment pathways.
Consumer health companies also have a role to play by developing tools that serve the patient's entire treatment arc, given that existing tools are point-in-time symptom trackers. Companies also need to consider clinical integration as a credible pathway and explore partnerships with employers, health systems and navigation platforms. These collaborative approaches prioritize comprehensive care for oncology patients.
Overall, the report offered a call to action: “Healthcare leaders can accelerate innovation by prioritizing precision medicine for gynecologic indications, accelerating early detection tools, and taking a longitudinal lens to integrate oncology care with broader women’s health initiatives," the PwC analysts wrote.