In a recent article, Sara Eshelman wrote: “It’s becoming evident that, in aggregate, women are having a different experience with the COVID-19 vaccine than men are. They report more side effects, more severe side effects, and account for the majority of adverse events that have been reported. The vaccine is still highly effective, and side effects are mostly mild and manageable, but still, women’s experience with it is different.
“There have been similar reports for other vaccines and drugs. A 2020 study found 86 drugs that male and female bodies broke down differently. In most cases, women metabolized the drugs more slowly than men, leading to higher levels of exposure and higher rates of adverse side effects. All drugs were FDA approved and included antidepressants, cardiovascular and anti-seizure drugs, and analgesics.”
Sara then waded into a sea of research on the gender-related knowledge gaps that exist in medicine, and her full report is worth a read.
Ultimately, she concluded, “We need entrepreneurs in pursuit of new knowledge in women’s health: who appreciate that women aren’t small men; who see women’s health as more than just reproductive health; and who are driven to do the hard work of collecting the data, making sense of it, and disseminating this knowledge widely.”
If you’re building or starting a company in this area, say hi — sara@spero.vc.
Evidence shows that every patient does not achieve the same outcome, and understanding personal characteristics is an essential ingredient to treatment selection. Health is becoming increasingly personalised with billions of research dollars dedicated to understanding genetics, epigenetics, ethnicity, biomarkers etc. Understanding how the treatment effects are different for different genders is equally important. Women's health and Men's health is more than just the reproductive system, it is about understanding the different health states, awareness, presentation and symptomatology of disease, also the high incident diseases for either gender and of course how to target treatment for the best result. Our Prospection team study high volumes of longitudinal historical patient data and have been able to determine distinct differences in male and female cohorts for different diseases.