Pregnant women should be included in clinical trials to improve outcomes, says commission

Pregnant women should have the opportunity to take part in clinical trials of medicines that could be used in pregnancy unless there are specific safety concerns, a policy commission has recommended.1

The commission said that pregnant women and babies had been “completely failed,” as they continued to get sick and die from largely preventable or treatable causes. It was led by Birmingham Health Partners, an alliance of five organisations in the West Midlands that collaborate to bring healthcare innovations through to clinical application.

For its report the commission gathered evidence from key stakeholders over the past year on how best to develop safe, effective, and accessible medicines for use during pregnancy. The report uses the terms “woman” and “mother” throughout, …