Welcome back to Common Corpus, our regular curation of the best evidence-based women’s health content designed to help you navigate, optimize, and advocate for your well-being at every stage of life.
Across this week’s stories, a common thread is the gap between what is available or increasingly understood in women’s health, and what women can actually access, benefit from, or have recognized in practice. From a promising new approach to endometriosis and overlooked ovarian anatomy, to the complex overlap between ADHD and perimenopause, science is still catching up with women’s bodies and experiences. At the same time, the stories from the U.S., Mexico and Fiji show that access is shaped not only by medicine, but also by stigma, cost, law, geography and whether women are listened to in the first place. Progress depends as much on systemic change as it does on discovering new treatments.
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News & Noteworthy
What’s making the news in women’s health
New data shows the wider impact of healthcare barriers for women
New Gallup research in the U.S. finds that problems accessing and navigating healthcare are disproportionately common among women and the consequences extend far beyond health itself. Delayed diagnoses, dismissed symptoms and inadequate care are affecting women’s careers, caregiving responsibilities, relationships and participation in everyday life.
More than half of women (51%) reported at least one major problem with healthcare in the previous five years, including having symptoms dismissed, being misdiagnosed or unable to obtain a diagnosis, receiving conflicting recommendations, or failing to get the answers they needed. Women were also considerably more likely than men to say they had needed to advocate for themselves to get appropriate care.
Diagnostic delays were common and substantial. Importantly, the gender gap persisted even when men and women had the same types of conditions, suggesting differences in how they experience the healthcare system, not simply differences in the illnesses they develop.
These healthcare problems have wider consequences. Among working women, 42% said their health had limited their career in some way, while more than one-quarter said they interfered with caring for family or attending social events.
The takeaway: Women’s healthcare gaps are not confined to the clinic. When symptoms are dismissed, diagnoses delayed, or treatment is difficult to access, the effects ripple into women’s economic opportunities, family responsibilities and broader participation in society.
A breakthrough for future endometriosis treatment?
ENDO-205 is generating excitement because it represents a fundamentally different approach to endometriosis treatment: a non-hormonal therapy designed to target the disease itself rather than suppress ovarian hormones or simply manage pain.
The FDA has cleared ENDO-205 to begin human trials, but this is not the same as approving the drug. Its first Phase 1 study is expected to focus primarily on safety in healthy premenopausal women, rather than testing whether it treats endometriosis.
ENDO-205 is being developed as a targeted peptide therapy that preferentially enters diseased tissue to address lesion growth, invasion, fibrosis and resistance to normal cell death.
If successful, this could offer a major alternative to existing treatments, which largely rely on hormonal suppression.
But this is early days. ENDO-205 itself has not yet been proven safe or effective in patients, and claims that it could shrink or eliminate lesions remain hypothetical.
The takeaway: ENDO-205 is promising because it points toward a long-awaited shift from symptom suppression to lesion-directed, non-hormonal treatment. For now, however, the drug is at a very early stage of development and testing. So while the biological rationale is compelling, the clinical evidence has yet to arrive.
The Latest Research
The latest in academic research in women’s health
Discovering the rete ovarii: new insight into ovarian function?
New research shows how a small structure attached to the ovary may have been overlooked for generations. The rete ovarii was often treated as a leftover from development, something with no important role in adult life and has disappeared from many modern anatomy textbooks. But this new research in mice suggests that this assumption may be wrong. Researchers found that the rete ovarii remains active in adulthood in mice. Its cells have tiny hair-like structures that can move fluid, and the structure appears to release substances that may help communicate with the ovary. It is also closely connected to blood vessels, immune cells and nerves, suggesting that it could help the ovary respond to changes in its surroundings. While this discovery does not yet tell us what the rete ovarii does in women, it raises important questions about how the ovary develops, maintains its health, and responds to signals from the rest of the body. If a similar structure is active in humans, it could eventually help researchers better understand ovarian conditions, fertility and changes that occur with age. And it highlights how parts of the female reproductive system may still be poorly understood.
Listen & Learn
The latest in women’s health audio content worth your time
Perimenopause and ADHD
In this episode of OvaryActive, Drs. Rebecca Dunsmoor-Su and Amy Voedisch explore why ADHD symptoms such as forgetfulness, disorganization, overwhelm and difficulty concentrating can become more noticeable, or first become recognizable, during perimenopause. They dig into the research, examining the overlap between ADHD and perimenopause, which have a lot of symptoms in common. They discuss a large population-based study of 5,392 Icelandic women aged 35–55, which found that 54% of women with ADHD reported severe perimenopausal symptoms compared with 30% of women without ADHD. The episode also considers smaller studies suggesting that ADHD medications may feel less effective when estrogen is low. However, the evidence remains limited, with no randomized control trials to support this. The key takeaway is that worsening concentration or executive function in midlife should not automatically be dismissed as “just perimenopause”. Sometimes it’s hormones, sometimes it’s ADHD. But hormonal changes can amplify previously undiagnosed or well-managed ADHD, so both possibilities are worth considering clinically.
The Global Perspective
Women’s health around the world
When abortion access crosses the border: How Mexican feminist networks are supporting reproductive rights in the U.S.
In a striking reversal of the usual U.S.–Mexico healthcare narrative, American women, many from Texas and other states with abortion bans, are increasingly turning to Mexican feminist networks for abortion information, medication and, in some cases, in-person care. These groups, which spent decades helping women navigate restrictive abortion laws in Mexico, are now supporting women across the border as U.S. access contracts. In 2023 alone, two collectives received at least 2,850 requests for help, 82% from women in states with complete abortion bans. The women seeking assistance are disproportionately from poorer, less-insured communities, and perhaps surprisingly, most were English speakers, underscoring that this is not simply support flowing along existing Spanish-speaking networks. The result is an unusual cross-border reversal: Mexican activists are now filling gaps in reproductive healthcare created by U.S. law and access barriers.
Treatment is free, but mother-to-baby HIV transmission in Fiji is still growing
Fiji is facing a rapidly worsening HIV epidemic, with 59 babies born with HIV at the country’s largest hospital in 2025 and 18 dying before their first birthday, despite free testing and antiretroviral treatment that can largely prevent mother-to-child transmission. Stigma remains a major barrier to care. Many women fear being identified as HIV-positive, while crowded counselling spaces, limited privacy, and the risk of relatives discovering medication can deter them from testing or staying on treatment. Access is also shaped by practical constraints such as repeated clinic visits, transport costs, childcare responsibilities and financial dependence on partners. Nationally, only 22% of people living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral treatment, helping to explain why preventable transmission remains so high. So while treatment is free and available, this has not been enough to curb rising HIV transmission, including mother-to-baby. Care must also be private, accessible, and socially safe enough for women to use it.
Common Interest
Quick hits that we found interesting, thought-provoking, or useful this week
The Dutch dictionary is adding a new word for labia in an attempt to move away from the current word “schaamlippen” which translates as “shame lips” or “pubic lips”. LINK
Afghan cyclist, Fariba Hasmini, who trained in disguise to hide from the Taliban, has won a silver medal at the Asian Games. LINK
The UK has introduced new rights for women and their partners who experience pregnancy loss before 24 weeks. Yes, still unpaid, but nonetheless a step in the right direction. LINK
And the best accessory at the Emmy’s goes to Taylor Cox and her bedazzled breast pump. LINK