Women in Clinical Trials
When new drugs or medical procedures are ready to be tested on human subjects, researchers find volunteers for clinical trials. However, far more men than women are used as subjects during these trials.
It was widely assumed for many years that women and men would respond to medication in the same way. Therefore, it did not seem to matter whether men or women were participating in clinical trials. Because of this, researchers mostly drew from pools of male volunteers because they were perceived to be more low-risk (and accordingly, less expensive to include in a trial). Women who are pregnant, nursing, post-menopausal or even simply of childbearing age are considered too "risky" to participate in clinical trials. These parameters essentially eliminate all women. However, it is difficult to determine whether this decision to eliminate women was made out of beneficence or paternalism.
The main problem with this gender discrepancy is that men and women are physiologically different. Their bodies process medications and respond to treatments differently. The over-representation of men in clinical trials has impeded the progress of understanding how new medications will affect women.
Question: Which of the following details is included in the passage?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The author states that men were thought to be "less expensive to include in a trial" than women.
Although this might be assumed to be true, the author does not state or imply that women have been harmed from the medication that they have taken.
The author does not state or imply that women are now much better represented in medical studies than they were in the past. In fact, the last paragraph suggests that women are still not properly represented in clinical trials.
Male and female bodies metabolize medications in much the same way is incorrect. The author states that men's and women's "bodies process medications and respond to treatments differently."