Advancing women's health in the 21st century: applying the tools of clinical pharmacology.

摘要

Although substantial therapeutic advances in women's health have occurred in the past few decades, important challenges still exist. Many of the advances are the result of increased attention to women's health issues and of insistent pressure and sustained efforts from health activists, advocacy organizations, politicians, and other groups instrumental in effecting change. Recognition of the disparities in women's health, including shortcomings in traditional medical practice and unmet scientific needs, has provided the necessary springboard for these therapeutic advances and will continue to pave the way for further advances in the field. Women's health has been particularly newsworthy in recent years, taking center stage in scientific, political, and ethical arenas with topics such as the findings from the Women's Health Initiative, over-the-counter access to emergency contraception, and the human papilloma virus vaccine to prevent cervical cancer.Delivering the right drug at the right dose to the right patient is one of the basic tenets of clinical pharmacology and personalized medicine. Thisthematic issue of Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (CPT) is devoted to the "right patient" theme and is dedicated to clinical pharmacology and therapeutics as they relate to women's health. Traditional women's health issues as well as sex- and gender-related medicine fit readily into ASCPT's and CPT's drug discovery, development, regulation, and use paradigm. The application of clinical pharmacology tools and methodologies plays a substantial role in past advances and can readily be used to further improve women's health.