Ansha Gupta & Husna Rahim, PharmD, RPh
Have YOU EVER WONDERED …how treatment approaches may differ between male and female patients?
- Women often experience different symptoms, side effects, and treatment responses compared to men due to biological differences.
- Historically, women have been underrepresented in clinical trials, limiting access to tailored therapies (Brauch, et al. 2008).
- Pharmacogenomics (PGx) helps close this gap by identifying the most effective treatments based on genetic profiles
The Challenge.
- Women often receive inadequate care due to limited sex-specific data in treatment guidelines, which are traditionally based on male-dominant clinical trials (Brauch et al., 2008).
- For example, despite cardiovascular disease being a leading cause of death in women, a systematic review of all cardiovascular clinical trials conducted between 2010 and 2017 found that women only comprised 30% of participants (Jin, et al. 2020).
- Several medications are metabolized differently in women due to variations in metabolic enzyme activity, hormone levels, and body composition, including fat distribution (Gandhi, et al. 2004). Overlooking these factors contributes to persistent inequities that compromise women’s health outcomes and
- quality of life.
Biological differences lead women to experience distinct symptoms, adverse drug events, and therapeutic responses compared to men.
Benefits & Real-World Applications of PGx.
Pharmacogenomics enables condition-specific, personalized treatment by identifying how individuals metabolize medications, helping to close care gaps.
- PGx offers a pathway to standardize dosing and therapy selection by identifying gene variants linked to sex-specific metabolizing capabilities, enabling clinicians to provide clinically-actionable insights tailored to individual biology (Gandhi, et al. 2004).
- Genetic profiling in breast and ovarian cancer has already transformed care, significantly improved treatment efficacy and outcomes for countless women (Tung, et al. 2020).
Conclusion.
PGx can help close this gap by identifying the most effective treatment based on genetic profiles.
- PGx reduces the disparity between women and men in medicine by moving beyond the one-size-fits-all model. By integrating PGx insights into clinical workflows, healthcare professionals can tailor therapies to individual biological and social determinants.
Learn more about UGenome.
Personalized Medication Service, ProPEx, or contact UGenome. You can also find case studies for UGenome’s bioinformatics services Metabolite Identification, Bone Metastasis Risk Analysis in Breast Cancer, Survival Analysis with gene signatures in cancer
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