Australian centre aims to tackle “underlying binary sex and gender bias” in clinical trials
The University of New South Wales has launched a centre to address gender bias in health and medicine.
The Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine will push for a broader approach to clinical trials.
Robyn Norton, a professor of public health at the university, said that overgeneralisation of the findings of studies carried out on male animals and male cells resulted in “long delays in diagnosis and intervention, inappropriate treatment or dosing, different responses to medicines and devices and dismissal of pain or other symptoms” for women, intersex, trans and gender-diverse people.
“This historical focus almost exclusively on the male means other populations have been understudied. Viewing trial protocols and analysis through a sex- and gender-sensitive lens can improve outcomes across the board.”
The new centre is backed by the George Institute for Global Health, Deakin University, the Victorian Department of Health and the Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes.
A statement from the George Institute for Global Health on 27 March said that there is “a paucity of health data for intersex and gender-diverse people in most health areas, and for men and boys where a condition most commonly occurs in women”, such as osteoporosis.
The centre will carry out “research and advocacy” around the way trials are conducted and “address the underlying binary sex and gender bias in health and medicine that leads to poorer health outcomes, evidence gaps and inefficient health spending for women and girls, intersex people, trans and gender-diverse people and in some cases men and boys”, the statement said.
Melbourne trials centre
The announcement came as the University of Melbourne’s Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity launched a centre for “human challenge” clinical trials of vaccines and medicines. Human challenge trials involve participants being exposed to infectious agents to test the efficacy of vaccines and medicines.
In a statement on 26 March, institute director Sharon Lewin said the centre was a “major coup for Australia”.
“While human challenge trials have been used to develop new medicines and vaccines globally for decades, our purpose-built facility is the first of its kind in the southern hemisphere,” she said.
Doherty Clinical Trials, which has received support from the Victorian government and philanthropists, will be run as a subsidiary of the University of Melbourne.
The 25-bed centre is currently in east Melbourne but will be incorporated into the Australian Institute for Infectious Disease when that project is completed.
Early trials will target influenza, Streptococcus pyogenes, gonorrhoea and malaria, in conjunction with Australian and overseas researchers, the statement said.