According to the FDA, between 2004 and 2013, women in the United States suffered roughly 700,000 more drug-related adverse events when compared to men.
Consequences of gender inequality can include detrimental health effects.
Eight out of ten drugs were removed from the US market between 1997 and 2000 because of side effects that occurred only, or predominantly, in women (US General Accounting Office). Typically, the harmful impacts of inequality in drug discovery are not discovered until after release to the public.
This mistake can lead to fatalities for those excluded from the drug discovery research process.
Implicit biases within healthcare, in regards to both race and gender, disproportionately hurt parts of our population in incredibly damaging and unrecoverable manners. To include underrepresented groups in drug discovery trials through the use of disaggregated data is essential for reducing injustice in healthcare and treatment.