Women make up about half of humanity. Yet, the medical community and the pharmaceutical and biotech industries have long adopted an androcentric view of disease biology and healthcare needs, perceiving women as a specialized or atypical demographic. In episode 20 of We're Doomed, We're Saved, we talk to two biotech experts, Catenion's Dr. Ana Rita Da Costa and Dr. Pascal Joly, to discuss how the biotech industry and healthcare community slowly, but steadily, change and adapt to the needs of half of their customers: women.

Content and Editing: Louise von Stechow and Andreas Horchler

Disclaimer: Louise von Stechow & Andreas Horchler and their guests express their personal opinions, which are founded on research on the respective topics, but do not claim to give medical, investment or even life advice in the podcast.

Learn more about the future of biotech in our podcasts and keynotes. Contact us here: scientific communication: https://science-tales.com/ Podcasts: https://www.podcon.de/ Keynotes: https://www.zukunftsinstitut.de/louise-von-stechow

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References: Sex and gender biases in disease biology and experience

1. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)315610/fulltext
2. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00267-6
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14. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5779632/

Underrepresentation in clinical research

1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37365348/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35576341/
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6. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30398-1

Funding of Women’s Health

1. https://www.nature.com/immersive/d41586-023-01475-2/index.html
2. https://catenion.com/financing-innovation-in-womens-health/
3. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/healthcare/our-insights/unlocking-opportunities-in-womens-healthcare
4. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35620300/
5. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/01/women-health-gap-davos-2023/
6. https://endpts.com/svb-report-finds-funding-for-womens-health-startups-is-up-more-than-300-since-2018/

Overcoming Barriers to women’s health

1. https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2023/11/13/memorandum-on-the-white-house-initiative-on-womens-health-research/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32487585/