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Posted: 13 May 2026
Claim 1: Women were historically excluded from clinical trials
Source: Mastroianni AC, Faden R, Federman D (eds). Women and Health Research. National Academies Press, 1994.
Key finding: A landmark report documenting the systematic exclusion of women from federally funded clinical research and the resulting gaps in medical knowledge specific to women.
Access: Free to read at nap.edu/catalog/2305
Claim 2: The NIH only mandated inclusion of women in research in 1993
Source: NIH Revitalization Act of 1993, Public Law 103-43.
Key finding: Prior to this law, there was no federal requirement to include women or minorities in NIH-funded clinical trials. The policy gap lasted decades.
Access: Full text at govinfo.gov — search "NIH Revitalization Act 1993"
Claim 3: Standard drug dosing based on a 70kg male reference body
Source: Dahan A, et al. "The 'average' pharmacokinetics of orally administered drugs." Clinical Pharmacokinetics, 2009.
Supporting: Zucker I, Prendergast BJ. "Sex differences in pharmacokinetics predict adverse drug reactions in women." Biology of Sex Differences, 2020.
Key finding: The reference human used in pharmacological modelling has historically been a 70kg male. Women metabolise many drugs differently due to body composition, hormonal cycles, and enzyme activity — yet doses are rarely adjusted.