Why we need to talk about sex and clinical trials

摘要

Not only do men and women respond differently to disease-a fact first noticed by Hippocrates during an influenza outbreak more than 2,000 years ago-they also respond differently to the pharmaceuticals used to treat it. However, despite these differences, many current therapies will have only been tested on men in their preregistra-tion clinical trials, leading to questions over whether women are receiving optimal treatment1. The under-representation of women in clinical trials stems from the long-held assumption that the male perspective represents the norm. Medical education textbooks typically default to the male in case studies and anatomical drawings, while women are represented only in matters specific to reproductive biology.