Episode Details

In this episode, tech entrepreneur Aldo de Pape sits down with Laura Minquini, founder of Athena BIO (formerly Athena DAO), to explore one of the most overlooked problems in modern medicine: the massive funding gap in women’s health research.

Laura explains how decentralized science (DeSci) can help fund translational research—the critical stage where discoveries in the lab turn into real treatments and drugs. Despite women driving enormous economic value globally, research focused specifically on female health conditions receives only a tiny fraction of global medical funding.

The conversation dives into why diseases like endometriosis, menopause-related conditions, and polycystic ovarian syndrome remain under-researched—and how new funding models could finally change that.

Key Topics Covered:

Why women’s health is dramatically underfunded

• Only a small percentage of global biomedical funding goes toward female-specific conditions
• Even common conditions like endometriosis affect millions yet lack effective treatments
• Many drugs historically were not properly tested on female bodies
  
  
  

The “Valley of Death” in biotech funding. Laura explains the funding gap between:

• Early scientific discovery
• Translational research
• Actual drug development
  
  
  

This gap prevents promising women’s health research from becoming real treatments.

What Athena BIO Is Trying to Change

Athena BIO is building a new model for funding scientific research by:

• Supporting early translational women’s health research
• Funding scientists working on reproductive and hormonal health
• Using decentralized science models to involve a global community
  
  
  

Their goal is simple but ambitious: move scientific breakthroughs out of the lab and into real treatments for women.

Why Women’s Health Is Still a “Frontier Market”

Laura shares a striking insight:

Despite women driving massive consumer spending globally, investors still hesitate to fund women’s health innovation.

Reasons include:

• Lack of historic data and market validation
• A biotech funding ecosystem that follows trends rather than creates them
• Leadership structures historically dominated by male decision-makers
  
  
  

Yet Laura believes the opportunity is enormous—comparable to the early days of other major industries.

The Future of Decentralized Science (DeSci)

The conversation also explores how decentralized science could transform research funding.

Key ideas include:

• Removing traditional funding bottlenecks
• Enabling communities to support scientific breakthroughs
• Accelerating innovation in neglected medical fields
  
  

While crypto and blockchain tools are still evolving, the mission remains clear: fund better science faster.

Books Mentioned

• The Art of Thinking Clearly – on cognitive bias and decision-making in business
• The Business of the Vagina – a deep look at innovation and opportunity in women’s health
  
  

Final Takeaway

Real change in women’s health will require long-term vision, funding, and persistence.

As Laura puts it, the mission may take a decade or more—but the potential impact on global health could be enormous.

This episode was brought together by AlphaWire: https://alphawire.xyz/