Gender Bias
Introduction
An example of systemic gender bias is the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
“…For years, the process of developing and testing new drugs has focused disproportionately on male bodies - to the detriment of women…”
Sarah Neville, 2024
“…Biological and societal factors that shape women's health have long failed to receive adequate attention from the researchers, educators and clinicians. Bias starts to creep in at the development stage, years before drugs reach patients……Preclinical testing sometimes focuses disproportionately on male animals and male cells. Then, when the medicines reach human trials, women are certainly underrepresented…”
Kate Womersley as quoted by Sarah Neville, 2024
As a result, some prescribed drugs that can be less effective and/or less safe for female than they would-be for men.
“…When you're using male bodies to do safety and tolerability studies, essentially you're creating doses of these drugs that are based on the male body - generally speaking larger, heavier bodies, but also bodies that have different fat content…”
Jill Fisher as quoted by Sarah Neville, 2024
The data shows that women experience more ill effects and fatalities than men.
“… Health professionals in the USA reported 4.4 million serious and fatal events women, compared with 3.8 million men and 2022……examination of medicines withdrawn for safety reasons……this requires objective scientific review - found that since 1980 products were 3.5 times more likely to be removed because of safety risks in women than men…”
Sarah Neville, 2024
Some examples:
- Crohn’s disease
“…Women make up 45% of participants in phase 1 studies to test the safety, but comprise 84% of all cases of the condition in the USA…”
IQVIA Institute of Human Data Science as quoted by Sarah Neville, 2024
- Cancer treatment by immunotherapy drugs
“… In the 10 years from 2014, the percentage of women in clinical trials range from 37% to 42%......this is partly because the trials commonly excluded those with a previous history of immune diseases, subsequently excluding women who compromise about 80% of that cohort……The combined findings of all randomised clinical trials testing immunotherapy in the past 10 years, spanning 11,000 patients……In 19 out of 20 trials, men's survival rate is double that seen in women…”
Fabio Conforti as quoted by Sarah Neville, 2024
- mental health treatment by anti-psychotics
While treatment can be effective in both men and women, women suffer far more side-effects from this drug category.
Other health issues like obesity are suspected to have gender differences.
Need to get a gender balance that is reflective of the prevalence of the disease.
Summary
“…Historically the white male body has been seen as a scientific norm……Whatever we find in men will apply to women…… This assumption - equally evident in the lack of racial diversity in drug trials - is something that's been very difficult to change in the culture of science…”
Jill Fisher as quoted by Sarah Neville, 2024
There is a concerted effort to increase diversity in clinical trials, etc so differences in how the different genders respond are taken into account.
Research and treatment needs to be far more personalised so that differences like gender are take into account.