Gender and sex disparity in cancer trials

The study population within phase III clinical trials leading to approval of new cancer agents should ideally more closely mirror the population who will ultimately receive these agents. Although the number of females participating in clinical trials has increased over the past several decades, females are still under-represented in preclinical studies, in early phase clinical trials and even in some later phase cancer clinical trials. In the USA, this is particularly true for women from minority populations and elderly women. In this review, we review gender and sex disparities in cancer trials, the reasons for these disparities, the barriers to clinical trial enrolment and ways to improve diversity in cancer clinical trials.