OBJECTIVES: The development agenda based on the United Nation’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) centers gender equality (SDG #5) at its core. Within healthcare, reproductive differences drive gender-specific diseases. This study aimed to analyze if the global agenda for access to novel oncologic agents is in line with SDG #5 or if gender inequalities persist.

METHODS: We selected eight gender-specific cancers of the reproductive system (prostate, penile, testicle; cervical, ovarian, uterine, vaginal, vulvar) and identified novel agents approved in the United States between 2017-2023 and clinical trials registered since 2017 for these diseases. Additionally, we analyzed Health Technology Assessment (HTA) reports for the approved agents in Australia (PBAC), Brazil (CONITEC) Canada (CADTH), United Kingdom (NICE), and United States (ICER).

RESULTS: We identified four and five drugs approved for female- and male- specific cancers, respectively. Of the first four, two targeted ovarian, one cervical, and one uterine cancer. Among these, only CADTH (n=1, ovarian; n=1, uterine), NICE (n=1, ovarian; n=1, uterine), PBAC (n=1, ovarian; n=1, uterine), and ICER (n=1, ovarian) had assessed the drugs. Moreover, all the second five drugs targeted prostate cancer. Among these, only CADTH (n=3), NICE (n=1), and PBAC (n=1) had assessed the drugs. Furthermore, we identified 399 Phase-III and 1,557 Phase-II trials for the diseases. Of these, 73.18% (Phase-III) and 75.27% (Phase-II) were in female-specific and 26.82% (Phase-III) and 24.73% (Phase-II) in male-specific cancers. Most trials focused on cervical (38.96%), prostate (23.42%), ovarian (19.38%) and uterine (14.47%) cancer.

CONCLUSIONS: This study did not identify gender trends in terms of registration and HTA assessments of oncologic agents, with prioritizations across tumors being mostly aligned with disease prevalence, favoring women’s health. However, it identified a trend towards female-specific oncologic agents in clinical trial programs. The findings are in line with the global development agenda towards SDG #5, with an inclination towards advancing women´s health.