Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris:
"Each year, nearly four million people in the U.S. give birth and more than three million breastfeed their infants. Although more than 90 percent of pregnant people report taking a medication during pregnancy, only 1 percent of clinical trials mention the words pregnancy or pregnant and only 0.5 percent mention breastfeeding or lactation. Not enough is known about the effect of most drugs on a woman or a pregnancy, or the ways in which pregnancy may alter the uptake, metabolism, and efficacy of medication. For example, the rate at which certain drugs are excreted through the kidney may increase by 50% during pregnancy. People with chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, depression and asthma, are becoming pregnant, and they need safe and effective medications to manage these ongoing conditions throughout their pregnancy and beyond. In the context of COVID-19, pregnant and lactating people were largely excluded from clinical trials for treatments and vaccines, leaving them and their clinicians without clear evidence on safety and efficacy to guide clinical decision-making."
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