New findings that are being presented during the American Society of Nephrology’s 38th Annual Meeting and Scientific Exposition in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, say that women are not being adequately represented during medical trials more specifically renal trials. Through analyses of the recently conducted renal trials showed this shortcoming.
It is theorized that this may be the reason why the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) decided to withdraw many of these drugs from the market. It was found that over the last ten years, 8 out of 10 drugs that were ordered to be withdrawn had serious side effects in women. Dr. Julia Lewis of Vanderbilt University’s Division of Nephrology says that even with the above evidence women were underrepresented at clinical renal trials that were conducted to test the efficacy of certain drugs. She will speak at the symposium and say that pathogenesis of progressive renal disease and hypertension is dependent to some extent on sex hormones and ignoring these potentially harmful effects could adversely impact the health of women. Dr. Lewis is scheduled to speak at length on a topic titled “Gender Issues in Large Clinical Renal Trials,” during a symposium entitled, The Pathophysiology of Progressive Renal Disease and Hypertension: Importance of Gender and Ethnicity.The meeting is being held from November 8-13 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA and focuses on distributing the latest research and clinical findings on kidney diseases among 12,000 nephrologists who assemble at the gathering.
