Male bias in medical research

An interesting piece in The Conversation recently looks at the historical bias towards including males in both preclinical studies and clinical trials.  This is significant, according to Peter Rogers, Director of Research at the Royal Women's Hospital at the University of Melbourne, because it puts women at greater risk of adverse events.  There is a wide variation in the both the susceptibility and severity of many diseases between the genders, and men and women react differently to various treatments.

Fortunately, things are changing in the light of recent thinking in medical science, with concepts such as "precision medicine" recognising variability between individuals.  "Women may have been neglected by medical research for a couple of decades but the march of technology is now bound to take them forward as individuals."

Equal but not the same: a male bias reigns in medical research by Peter Rogers. The Conversation, 9 February, 2015.