Experts call for more research on pregnant and lactating women - STAT

Experts call for more research on pregnant and lactating women - STAT

Inside STAT: Experts call for more research on pregnant and lactating women

(MOLLY FERGUSON FOR STAT)

There’s very little research on whether medications are safe and effective in pregnant and lactating women, but a task force formed by Congress has ideas to close that information gap — and just fired off 15 recommendations to health officials. Among them:

• Liability: A huge hurdle to inclusion is fear about liability if a medication harms a pregnant woman or her fetus. The task force says the government needs to come up with a system to cover liability for study sponsors.
• Education: The task force says HHS should create an educational campaign that get both the public and health care providers talking about the importance of research on pregnant and lactating women.
• Incentives: Give drug companies an incentive to study drugs in pregnant and lactating women, like longer patent exclusivity if they carry out studies in those populations.

I have more on the report here.