If you remember, a few weeks ago, “female Viagra” was released.
This is, in reality, a drug called flibanserin, a drug that’s supposed to help women’s sex drive.
However, one major side effect went almost completely ignored: you’re not supposed to drink any alcohol with it.
The results of the study of this side effect were done by testing it on 23 men and 2 women.
Take a moment, stop, and look at those numbers again.
Twenty-three men, and two women.
A drug for women with an extremely dangerous side effect was 92% tested on the gender that ISN’T going to take this drug.
This isn’t exactly uncommon. It used to be believed that men’s and women’s bodies, with the exception of their genitals and some hormone, were mostly the same.
But now, we know there are several differences between the male and female body that could spell fatality if drugs aren’t tested adequately on women.
Women are, in general, smaller and composed of different proportions of tissue than men. This means that women absorb drugs differently, and often, women are given the same dosage men when a smaller dosage would be much safer.
For example, a study of all new drug applications to the FDA between 1995 and 2005 found that over 150 of them included studies that included both men and women. In these, 11 of the drugs had differences in concentration between the sexes of 40% or more. Of these, none of the drugs were given dose recommendations based on sex.
This is no big deal with a common drug, like penicillin.
But with a stronger one? That much of a concentration difference can be pretty damaging to a woman’s body.
If you’re a woman concerned with this, some drugs that contain huge differences in male and female doses are: sleep meds containing zolpidem (Ambien), aspirin, statins, anesthesia, opioid pain medications, and antidepressants.
For now, we can look forward to change. Starting in fall of 2016, all research funded by the NIH will be required to account for sex as a study variable. In the meantime, talk to your doctor if you’re concerned about how a certain drug will affect you.
