The Female Data Deficit: How Drug Development Still Fails Women

Author(s): Lisa Campbell & William Hind

Despite decades of guidance encouraging the inclusion of women in clinical research, drug development continues to rely on evidence that is disproportionately generated from male participants. The result is a persistent female data deficit that affects safety, dosing, efficacy, and trust in medicines.

The problem of this female data deficit is often approached through a scientific or regulatory lens. However, the way data is collected in drug development is also shaped by behavioral factors that continue to influence decisions today, even when the original rationale no longer holds true.

Understanding and changing these behaviors is essential if the industry is to move from intention to impact.