system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why is the minimum age for a lot of medications 12 years? What happens at 12 that allows children to take these medications?
gpt
I work in the clinical trial industry, and the reason why so many medications say that it's for people 12 years of age or older as well as "NOT FOR PREGNANT WOMEN" is because children and pregnant women are rarely ever in clinical trials, because of all the logical reasons you can think of. Are a lot of medications probably OK for a pregnant woman to take, or a child?  It's likely, yes.  But, it hasn't been proven by statistics, so no one can really say with any certainty because most medications are formulated and tested only in adult, non-pregnant populations.