We are on a mission to solve a HUGE problem that might just be the most important untold health story of our time.
A problem hidden in plain sight that affects every one of us.
And it’s about to get even bigger unless we act now and fast.
Since the Greeks, medicine has been grounded on the core assumption that male and female bodies are the same - our anatomical hardware – apart from our reproductive parts.
But this is not the full story.
Male and female bodies run on two distinct neuro-endo-immuno operating systems.
This affects everything about how our bodies function, including:
- How we process and store energy
- How we respond to chronic stress
- The diseases we are prone to manifest
- The symptoms we experience
- And how our bodies metabolise and respond to medicines
Across every discipline in medicine evidence is mounting to prove that biological sex matters in health and disease. Brilliant leading experts, including our scientific advisors, are sharing their research and championing the need to change.
It just hasn't quite reached the tipping point. YET.
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"The Sex Factor is such an important contribution to the field and it is a must read! I gained so many new insights from this paper. There is so much to learn, and even more to do. This work can help accelerating the progress of making research more rigorous and inclusive."
“When I started working on sex and gender differences in cancer, it was seen as a niche topic. Many of us knew these differences mattered, but the evidence needed to guide treatment decisions was often missing. I feel for the first time that things are starting to change. The field is moving from asking whether sex differences matter to requiring the data to provide sex and gender-sensitive cancer care. This feels like a real turning point, and a moment for all of us to support and accelerate this work.”
MEDICINE GENERALLY WORKS WITH POOLED SEX-BLIND DATA
And both sexes are paying the price. There is a systemic failure where the medical ecosystem does not routinely disaggregate data by biological sex. Unbelievable? Here’s an example to pique your curiosity.
Everyone fears getting cancer. Billions have been invested to change that with oncology becoming one of the most exciting and progressive areas of ‘precision medicine’.
So how precise is it? We can target different types of cancer and biomarkers with incredible specificity.
And yet scientists are not yet routinely asking how cancers and treatments affect males and females differently.
A 2024 study published in the reputable journal, Nature, showed that out of over 89,000 oncology studies only 0.5% were disaggregated by sex.
What happens when we get curious enough to look?
Chemotherapy and immunotherapy, two common cancer treatments, impact male and female bodies differently. Differences in lean body mass and immune system function affects how these treatments are processed in the body. Treatments with the power to cure can also cause significant harm and even death. Wouldn’t you like to know the odds before you had to make that choice – for yourself, your partner, your kids?
Cancer is not an isolated case. Alzheimer’s and dementia. Metabolic and cardiovascular disease. Autoimmune diseases. In fact every disease we have looked at.
They all show significant and important sex differences when we take the time to look.
We simply need to shift our mindset and practices to embrace the fact that sex IS a core biological variable in health and disease.
This is next frontier of precision medicine.
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THE BIGGEST BLIND SPOT IN MEDICINE IS ABOUT TO GET BIGGER
Unless we act now. And FAST. The health system is under pressure like never before.
Ageing populations. The obesity epidemic. Dementia. Chronic diseases. Everyone can see the looming crisis.
The fastest growing sector right now is tech and AI. Won’t that save us?
Not if the machines learn on sex-blind data.
We are at risk of amplifying this blindspot and spending billions on treatments that fail along the way, whilst our family members suffer.
The good news is this is solvable but we need to do the work. And we need to act fast.
We invite everyone to be a Sex Factor champion and pioneer in their area of expertise because, if we don’t analyse outcomes separately for males and females, both retrospectively and prospectively, we cannot give, or receive, truly precise medicine.
We are calling on all those changemakers and leaders who work in life sciences companies, researchers, health funders, scientific publications, regulatory agencies, clinicians, educators, patient support organisations and those in healthcare provision to start to routinely ask ‘how does biological sex matter’?
Start by reading our white paper, ‘The Sex Factor, Precision Medicine’s Missing Variable’ to learn more about examples in:
- Cardiovascular medicine – two types of heart failure
- Immunology – Inflammatory bowel disease
- Oncology – immunology for lung cancer
What might seem like small differences in male and female biology can have a huge impact.
Think about it this way; humans share about 99% of their DNA with chimpanzees, and yet we recognise that we cannot do research on chimpanzees and assume the same response in humans.
By the same logic, males and females share about 99% of their DNA, yet modern medicine has long treated male data as if it automatically applies to female bodies as well.
Curious?
“Awareness of sex differences started in cardiovascular disease. Now we know they go so much further. This is an important paper which not only explains why but shows us the way to go. Excited to be part of what comes next.”
