Date of Award

5-2024

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Honors Thesis

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Julie Searcy

Second Advisor

Chad Knoderer

Abstract

Concerns about potential risks that clinical research could impose to women of childbearing potential have long dictated pharmaceutical clinical trials. In the United States, women were not allowed to participate in clinical trials for decades, which has had major implications on the pharmaceutical industry today. Due to this oversight, men and women are commonly prescribed drugs at the same dosage despite many sex-specific differences in how male/female bodies respond to drugs during exposure. It is now known that female bodies metabolize drugs much slower than male bodies, which means that women who are prescribed drugs at the same rate as men have much higher rates of exposure. This results in increased side effects and impacted efficacy in female bodies.

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