Women not required in clinical trials until 1993
Women were not legally required to be included in clinical trials in the United States until 1993, decades after modern medical research began.
Snapshot · Call Her Daddy
Katie Couric: Sexism, Storytelling & Standing Up to Cancer
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Jun 24, 2026
Where this was said
Hormonal: Exposing Decades of Gender Inequity in Medical Research
At 1:11:30 · chapter starts 1:09:20
The episode's most data-dense and incendiary chapter opens with Katie explaining how her spidey sense picked up on a wave of emerging reporting about women's health inequity about 5 or 6 years ago [1] — Katie Couric "For decades, medical research excluded women because scientists thought hormonal fluctuations would 'screw up the data.' Women weren't requ…" 1:09:50 . She began connecting dots that no one had fully assembled: from puberty to old age, women have been dismissed, marginalised, and underfunded. The core historical fact: women were not required to be included in US clinical trials until 1993, and scientists didn't routinely differentiate between male and female subjects until roughly 2015. The practical result: women take 4 extra years longer to be diagnosed, endometriosis takes 10 years on average to diagnose (50% still undiagnosed), and 80% of autoimmune disease patients are women. The most arresting single statistic [2] — Katie Couric "Erectile dysfunction affects 19% of men and has received 5 times more research funding than PMS, which affects 90% of all women. Katie Cour…" 1:12:20 : erectile dysfunction, affecting 19% of men, has received 5 times more research funding than PMS, which affects 90% of women. Only 1% of global health research investment goes to women's health outside of cancer. Only half of medical schools teach women's health courses. Crash test dummies were male until recently and female dummies aren't required in safety testing until 2028. The documentary, Hormonal, is being made with Emmy-winning director Esther Deer and filmmaker Dawn Porter, and is designed to be both enraging and entertaining — connecting the dots from the past to the present to a hopeful future if the aperture on women's health changes.
Women Treated as Small Men with Boobs: The Research Scandal
For decades, medical research excluded women because scientists thought hormonal fluctuations would 'screw up the data.' Women weren't required in US clinical trials until 1993, scientists didn't distinguish between sexes until roughly 10 years ago, and today women still take 4 extra years longer than men to be diagnosed with a condition.
Scientists didn't differentiate by sex until 10 years ago
It was only about 10 years ago that scientists began routinely differentiating between men and women in their research studies.
The 5× Funding Gap: ED vs. PMS
Erectile dysfunction affects 19% of men and has received 5 times more research funding than PMS, which affects 90% of all women. Katie Couric says this single statistic says everything about how the medical establishment has valued women's suffering.
Erectile dysfunction gets 5× more funding than PMS
Erectile dysfunction, affecting 19% of men, has received 5 times as much research funding as PMS, which affects 90% of all women.
Only 1% of global R&D goes to women's health (non-cancer)
Only 1% of global research dollars and innovation investment is directed toward women's health outside of cancer.
Women take 4 extra years to be diagnosed
On average, women take 4 extra years longer than men to receive a diagnosis, a direct consequence of under-researched women's health.
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