Have you ever felt like a treatment that works for everyone else just doesn’t work for you? For many years, women were underrepresented in clinical research [1, pag. 8 y 9 / 2, pag. 2]. Historically, concerns about hormonal variability, pregnancy-related risk, and longstanding research practices often led to the exclusion or underrepresentation of women. Researchers thought women’s hormones made things “too complicated,” or they simply didn’t include them. [2, pag. 2] As a result, some treatment standards and dosing recommendations were shaped disproportionately by male-derived data.
But that is changing. Personalized medicine is shifting the focus toward what actually makes you different: your biology, your genes, your lifestyle, and your hormonal reality. Clinical trials are a key part of this shift (alongside advances in genomics, biomarkers, and data science), generating the data that women-specific care has always needed.
What is precision medicine and personalized healthcare?
Precision medicine uses your genetic, molecular and biological data to help tailor treatments to groups of patients or individual patients. Personalized healthcare goes further, taking into account your lifestyle and environment to treat you as a whole person.
While these two terms are often used interchangeably, they refer to different but complementary ideas. Precision medicine focuses on your biology: instead of prescribing the same standard medication to every patient, doctors use your genetic data and biomarkers to find what actually works for your specific body. Personalized healthcare, on the other hand, considers your lifestyle, your environment, and your personal circumstances. The goal is to adapt treatment to the individual patient rather than relying solely on standardized approaches. The most typical acid reflux symptoms are a burning sensation in the chest (heartburn) and regurgitation (sour liquid or food coming back up).Other common GERD symptoms are:
Why healthcare is shifting toward patient-centered care
For a long time, medicine was mostly reactive. Treatment decisions were often based on standardized approaches. The problem was that those standards were built on data that didn’t represent everyone, and women, in particular, were largely left out. [1, pag. 8]
Patient-centered care changes this. Instead of fitting you into a pre-existing protocol, it focuses more closely on who you are as a person: your medical history, your daily habits, and your health priorities. For women, this shift means that hormonal, biological, and social factors are becoming a more regular part of healthcare decisions.
This shift is also influencing how individualized treatment approaches are developed. For years, medicine has not fully addressed women’s needs. That gap is finally starting to close.
How clinical trials are advancing precision medicine and personalized treatment
Clinical trials have historically underrepresented women, and this has affected how some treatments are evaluated and prescribed. [1, pag. 9] From ineffective dosing to overlooked symptoms, the gaps in research have directly affected the quality of care women receive. Today, that is changing. Newer clinical trials are doing more to include women and study how they may respond differently to treatments, giving us the data we need to make personalized treatment possible.
Precision therapies and personalized drugs
One of the clearest examples of this gap is medication dosing. Women have been reported to experience adverse drug reactions more often than men in some settings[3, pag.11], partly because many dosing standards were historically developed using male-based data.[3, pag.2] Precision therapies may improve this situation, using biological data from women to develop personalized drugs that can lead to more appropriate dosing and fewer risks.
Individualized treatment approaches
Women’s biology changes over time. Hormonal shifts during pregnancy and menopause, and in some cases across the menstrual cycle, can affect how your body absorbs and processes medication [4, pag.638]. Individualized treatment may take these changes into account, adjusting dosage and timing to each stage of a woman’s life. This is one reason precision medicine is becoming increasingly relevant in women’s health: it reflects the biological differences that can influence treatment response.
Key technologies behind precision medicine and personalized genomics
Precision medical advances in recent years have been driven by three key technologies that are changing the way doctors understand and treat each patient individually.
Personalized genomics:
Personalized genomics is one of the key tools to driving this shift. By using your genetic and biological data, doctors can complement standardized protocols with patient-specific information. [5, pag. 2 / 6, pag.327] This approach also changes the conversation between you and your doctor: instead of using the same plan for everyone, they can take your genetic and lifestyle information into account when choosing treatment options. [6, pag.327 / 7, pag 1]
AI and data:
Large amounts of biological data can now be analyzed with the help of AI. By finding patterns in treatment response, these tools may help improve how doctors estimate which therapies are more likely to work for different patients
Real-world insights:
What happens between doctor’s visits matters too. Wearable devices can provide additional data on your health on a daily basis, although their clinical usefulness varies depending on the device and the parameter being measured. This gives doctors a broader picture of a patient’s day-to-day health [8, pag. 2], helping support more personalized healthcare decisions.
Benefits of precision medicine and patient-centered care
The shift toward precision medicine and patient-centered care is not just a scientific advancement. It has a real impact on your health and your daily life. In practice, this can influence several aspects of patient care.
More effective personalized treatment strategies:
When doctors use your individual biological data to guide decisions, treatment can be better adapted to your specific needs from the start.[9, pag. 2]
Fewer side effects with precision therapies:
One of the biggest advantages of personalized dosing is that treatments are tailored to your body specifically, which has the potential to reduce the risk of adverse drug reactions. [6, pag. 327 / 6, pag. 331] For women, who have historically been overdosed due to male-based standards, [3, pag. 11] this is a particularly important step forward.
Earlier diagnosis with personalized genetic testing:
For some conditions, personalized genetic testing may help identify certain health risks before symptoms appear [9, pag. 2] giving you and your doctor the chance to act early. In many cases, early intervention can make a significant difference in how a condition develops and how it is treated.
Personalized women’s healthcare and the future of targeted medicine
Women’s health needs have not always been adequately reflected in research and care. But as this article has shown, that is changing, and clinical trials are at the heart of that change. From personalized genomics to individualized treatment approaches, the tools increasingly exist to make personalized women’s healthcare possible
This shift matters because treatment response can vary significantly from one person to another. Hormones, age, and lifestyle all shape how our bodies process care. Precision medicine is increasingly reflecting those biological differences.
The future of targeted medicine is one where every woman gets care that was designed for her. Clinical trials are a powerful tool to get there.
Referencias:
- Warren A, Garrett K, Frame LA. Disparities in women’s health and clinical considerations from a translational science perspective: a narrative review and framework for future directions. Womens Health (Lond). 2025;21:17455057251399009.
- Mielke MM, Miller VM. Improving clinical outcomes through attention to sex and hormones in research. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2021;17(10):625-635.
- Zucker I, Prendergast BJ. Sex differences in pharmacokinetics predict adverse drug reactions in women. Biol Sex Differ. 2020;11(1):32.
- Bosch EL, Sommer IEC, Touw DJ. The influence of female sex and estrogens on drug pharmacokinetics: what is the evidence? Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol. 2025;21(6):637-647.
- Delpierre C, Lefèvre T. Precision and personalized medicine: what their current definition says and silences about the model of health they promote. Implication for the development of personalized health. Front Sociol. 2023;8:1112159.
- Mulani AO, Deshmukh M, Jadhav V, Chaudhari K, Mathew AA, Salunkhe S. Transforming drug therapy with deep learning: the future of personalized medicine. Drug Res (Stuttg). 2025;75(8):326-333.
- Tan MJT, Kasireddy HR, Satriya AB, Abdul Karim H, AlDahoul N. Health is beyond genetics: on the integration of lifestyle and environment in real-time for hyper-personalized medicine. Front Public Health. 2025;12:1522673.
- Lang AL, Bruhn RL, Fehling M, Heidenreich A, Reisdorf J, Khanyaree I, Henningsen M, Remschmidt C. Feasibility study on menstrual cycles with Fitbit device (FEMFIT): prospective observational cohort study. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024;12:e50135.
- Francisco KKY, Apuhin AEC, Maravilla NMAT, Byers MC, Karim HA, Tan MJT, AlDahoul N. Personalized medicine and health equity: overcoming cost barriers and ethical challenges. Int J Equity Health. 2025;25(1):4.
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