FemTech: What to Watch for Women’s Wellness

The Supreme Court’s recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 142 S. Ct. 2228 (2022) has heightened interest in how data pertaining to reproductive health is collected, stored, shared and used. Encompassing more than just reproductive health, “femtech” (female health technology) plays a significant role in helping those identifying as female track their unique health trajectories and contribute to the advancement of women’s health through aggregated data and research. Femtech includes wearable devices, mobile health applications, biosensing devices, and other technologies focused on women’s health—a list that is growing through innovation. Companies have only scratched the surface of the femtech market: currently, more than half of femtech companies have a reproductive focus while the total market is worth around $1 billion; by 2027, 35% of femtech companies are expected to focus on additional aspects of women’s health and the market is projected to be worth between $475 billion. See Bethany A. Corbin, “Digitizing Women’s Health: Legal Considerations in Femtech,” AHLA Connect (May 10, 2022). Femtech is only one portion of the global mobile health (mHealth) market, which is presently estimated to be over $50 billion, and projected to increase in value to more than $900 billion by 2030. See Sumant Ugalmugle, Rupali Swain, Global Market Insights (2021).

Given the sensitivity of the information shared using femtech, femtech users, investors, and developers should be aware of how to balance the promise of the technology with respect for users’ medical data and compliance with applicable regulations. As femtech products become increasingly sophisticated, vendors should focus on ensuring compliance with data security and privacy regulations. Regulatory bodies are playing catch up as they shift focus from traditional health care providers to investigating and enforcing compliance with data privacy laws against mHealth vendors. This article provides a high-level overview of legal considerations for attorneys counseling femtech companies, focusing on the privacy and medical considerations for femtech companies.