But there is growing evidence that sex based differences are even more pervasive than previously thought. Harvard immunologist Denise Faustman talked about the need to address the differences at a Washington press conference today. For many, many years for the protection of women drugs were predominantly examined during the approval stages and different phases of clinical trials in men not women to protect women from possible side effects from being pregnant. So many of the drugs we have on the market efficacy in women isn't known even though they're prescribed equally to men and women. The IOM report said sex-based differences can be seen from woman to tomb starting at the cellular level.
Female cells are in many cases having more genetic information expressed than male cells.
The report urged that the differences be taken into account more broadly at all levels in biomedical and health research. Joining me now is a member of the committee that produced today's report, Dr. Sally Shaywitz, a professor of pediatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine. Welcome, Dr. Shaywitz. So the bottom line in today's report is that men and women are different. The big deal is that for the first time, we have solid evidence that sex matters, that sex is an important biologic variable that affects the health and well-being of people and that it becomes important to study sex differences.