Scientists Prove Women Need Different Medical Treatments

For decades, medical research used men as the default, leaving women with treatments that didn't work as well for their bodies. Now scientists at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center have proven what many suspected: diseases behave completely differently in women and men, and it's time medicine caught up.

Researchers analyzed 8,906 patient samples covering more than 100 diseases across 25 different tissues, separating all data by biological sex. Using the powerful MareNostrum 5 supercomputer, they discovered that even when women and men developed the same combination of diseases, the biological pathways were totally different.

In women, immune system and metabolism processes drove disease connections. In men, DNA repair and tissue repair mechanisms took center stage. This wasn't a small difference. It was a fundamental revelation that the same diseases work through entirely separate systems depending on sex.

The team found striking examples in everyday conditions. Type 2 diabetes and certain cancers showed completely different associations in men versus women, driven by distinct biological mechanisms. Even common medications like metformin worked differently, with the diabetes drug showing different patterns related to liver cancer risk depending on the patient's sex.

"Research historically used the male as the standard model, which caused diagnostic biases and less effective treatments for women," explained Alfonso Valencia, who directed the study. The research team included scientists from the University of Valencia and Catholic University of Portugal, and their findings appeared in Communications Medicine.

The implications reach far beyond the laboratory. Some chemotherapies and bronchodilators showed different disease associations depending on sex, suggesting that a treatment protecting one patient might not help another simply because of biological differences.

Why This Inspires

This research represents more than scientific progress. It's a correction of a historical injustice that affected half the population. For generations, women received treatments designed for male bodies, leading to misdiagnoses and medications that didn't work as intended.

The study opens doors to precision medicine that actually considers each person's biology. Researchers can now design clinical trials that account for sex differences from the start, preventing harmful side effects and creating treatments that work better for everyone.

"This work opened the door to a precision medicine that no longer assumed that what worked for men necessarily worked for women," noted Jon Sánchez-Valle, the study's first author. Future drug development can now target the specific biological pathways relevant to each patient, rather than hoping one approach fits all.

The path forward is clear: medical science must analyze women and men separately to create truly effective treatments. What once seemed like an impossible task now has a roadmap, powered by supercomputers and scientists committed to equitable healthcare for all.