Some of the world’s most commonly used drugs such as statins have not been properly shown to work in women because of sexism in science, researchers claim. An absence of women in clinical trials and failure to report results by sex have resulted in an evidence gap that is likely to be hampering treatment, doctors argue. Medical journals should force researchers to report results for men and women separately to be sure that new medicines are safe and effective for both sexes, they insist. “Women are not small men,” said Jeanine Roeters van Lennep, of the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, who is leading the project. “There are biological differences in hormones and body composition. Women have smaller kidneys so it’s more difficult to clear
A lack of female participants in clinical trials and a failure to report separate results by gender could lead to drugs being marketed that are less effective for women, a study has warned. Jeanine Roeters van Lennep at Jeanine Roeters van Lennep 's the Erasmus Medical Centre said the absence of women in clinical trials was a "blind spot", while an analysis of 45 UK statins trials revealed 82% of the participants were men, and 10 separated data by the sex of participants. Separate UK research found that 45 out of 10 drugs withdrawn from use after approval had higher risks for women.