Dive Brief:
- In a new blog post, the Food and Drug Administration stressed its commitment to women’s heart health research.
- Despite limited funds, the FDA's Office of Women's Health has supported studies — into issues ranging from differences in cardiac interventions for males and females to the cardio-toxicity of breast cancer drugs — since its research program began in 1995, according to the March 1 post.
- In general, the FDA touted ongoing collaborations across its research programs that are helping to advance policies and projects aimed at protecting women’s heart health.
Dive Insight:
The post portrayed the FDA as an important player in public and private sector efforts to fight heart disease in women. While men have historically been the main subjects of heart disease research, the post highlights the behind-the-scenes work from the Office of Women's Health to level the scientific playing field.
That work includes research exploring the connection between certain drugs and Torsade de Pointes, a rare arrhythmia mostly found in women that can result in sudden death. The FDA has been leading an effort to evaluate better ways to screen drugs for their potential to cause this problem, according to Marsha B. Henderson, the agency's assistant commissioner for women’s health and author of the post.
Certain medications can mess with what's called the QT-interval, which relates to the heart's electrical cycle and can lead to rare arrhythmias if perturbed. Not all QT-prolonging drugs cause the rare arrhythmia, Henderson said, so her office is partnering with the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research to sponsor studies to better screen for the subset of QT-prolonging drugs that have lower safety risks.
Henderson conceded, however, that her office is doing the work despite limited resources, again raising the specter of research inequality.
It’s been seven years since the American Heart Association (AHA) launched its popular Go Red for Women campaign. Still, in 2017, AHA’s website declares that heart disease in women “requires more attention, more research and swifter action.”
As part of its call to action, the nonprofit is urging women to take legislative action and work with the AHA to seek more funding for a Center for Disease Control and Prevention program, WISEWOMAN (Well-Integrated Screening and Evaluation for WOMen Across the Nation). The program offers free cardiovascular screening to low-income uninsured and underinsured women.