Principles of Gender-Specific Medicine (Fourth Edition) Sex and Gender-Specific Biology in the Postgenomic Era: Chapter 25 - The importance of gender-specific medicine in the pharmaceutical industry, clinical practice, and global health care

This chapter explores the importance of gender-specific medicine within the context of pharmaceutical development and global health care. It analyzes the challenges that the pharmaceutical industry (and by implication academia, regulators, and federal funding agencies) faces in integrating our growing knowledge on sex-specific biological differences in their drug development programs. Specifically, the chapter addresses the question of why the pharmaceutical industry has been so slow at incorporating gender differences in constructing their commercial portfolios. It also explores what approaches the industry could adopt to make the incorporation of gender-specific medicine viable, financially and strategically. Finally, it emphasizes the importance that gender-specific pharmaceuticals would have in global health care.