Although women represent half of the global population, just 7 percent of healthcare research funding goes towards conditions that exclusively affect them. Furthermore, only 5 percent of available medications have been properly vetted for safe use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
To address these disparities, a new report from the World Economic Forum has outlined five key policy changes to advance women’s health research.
Firstly, the study authors recommend several regulatory, pricing, and financial policies to unlock innovation in women’s health. They suggest policymakers establish various incentives such as priority review vouchers, tax credits, targeted research grants, public-private investment matching, and an updated pricing and reimbursement value proposition that could encourage a wide-range of stakeholders to invest in women’s health.
Next, the authors call for federal agencies to mandate the inclusion of women in clinical trials. They believe enrollment goals for medical trials should be based on sex, race, ethnicity, and age aligned with the prevalence in the intended use population. Additionally, regulatory bodies should focus on including pregnant and lactating women in clinical research as they have historically been excluded from participating in trials.
The authors also highlight the importance of standardizing terminology and data collection in medical trials. Implementing comprehensive sex-specific benefit-risk assessments could better identify unique sex-specific effects rather than losing sight of any specific effects on women in mass aggregated data.
Alongside developing women-specific data collection methods, the report suggests clinical trials should be specifically designed to capture sex-based differences between men and women. The report suggests strategies such as recruiting and retaining women trial participants; educating investigators, staff, and participants on research methods; and accounting for sex-based differences in physiological mechanism and manifestation could advance trial inclusivity.
Finally, the authors believe both patients and physicians must be provided with deeper insights into sex-based differences in medications. They call for clinical guidelines, drug labeling, and patient information to reflect sex-specific differences in safety, efficacy, and dosing.
“When focusing on women’s health, the benefits ripple throughout communities, economies and future generations,” write the authors. “Bold new healthcare policies, collaborative action and a focus on developing safe and effective treatments can create lasting change that transforms women’s health and creates a stronger and more vibrant global future for all.”
The World Economic Forum developed the report in collaboration with the Global Alliance for Women’s Health, Kearney, and the Gates Foundation.