Read here to find out 5 reasons why diversity is important for clinical trials.
The Situation Today
In clinical trials, it is no secret that there is a vast under-representation of racial and ethnic minorities; it is a well-documented issue that is a pattern across the world when it comes to clinical trials.
Studies have indicated that people from different demographics respond differently to certain treatments, meaning that those in a minority population face even worse health outcomes depending on the diagnoses.
Companies such as Clinical Ink are trying to improve diversity amongst clinical trials, but the fight is not over yet.
Read further to find out some of the issues these minorities face and why research should be geared towards the minority population to increase diversity and improve drug development worldwide.
Inclusion is Important
What Issues Do A Lack of Diversity Cause?
People do not know that the less diverse a participation base is, the more it will significantly impact the advancement of any health research; drugs will be developed continuously without being tested on people from different ethnic backgrounds or genders.
According to data obtained by the US Census, 13.4% of the American population is made up of Black or African American people.
However, the FDA reports that just 5% of those actually participate in clinical trials.
The numbers are greater for those of Latino or Hispanic heritage, representing one-fifth of the population (18.1%), yet only 1% of those taking part in trials.
Due to this imbalance, it is difficult to determine if treatments across these trials are effective for all kinds of racial populations.
Due to this, it is common for doctors to diagnose certain conditions followed by prescribing medication that will be effective for persons with European genes but not as effective to others from different racial backgrounds. Issues lie in the kind of dosages a person can need or whether they need a different treatment entirely.
For example, in the most extensive study of ethnic populations across America, there was no correlation between melanoma incidence and UV exposure in the Hispanic or Black populations.
In the past, studies that have assessed these associations have excluded those patients with darker skin.
What Are the Benefits of Diversity in Clinical Trials and How Can We Improve Them?
1. Increase Flexibility
In order to improve trial diversity, there needs to be some flexibility for the participants. Clinics could achieve this by providing transport or offering weekend and evening schedules so that those who cannot take the time from work can still attend.
2. Diversity in Researchers
Improving diversity within clinical trials has to be a focus from the start to the end; this can be achieved by adding a diverse research and testing basis.
Those coming in for clinical trials should feel comforted that the trial staff are educated and diverse within themselves.
Vendors should equally reflect diversity in patients and communities affected by the research developments.
3. Faster and Less Expensive Trials
Including those who have a shared biomarker means that it is possible for alternative outcomes. For example: if researchers include a surrogate marker.
4. More Reliable Results
Suppose research is more diverse, as mentioned previously. In that case, it will make medical research across the chain more reliable as it will consider the needs of Black, White, and every other heritage in a population.
5. Diversity Needs to Be an Internal Focus
For the medical industry to make any improvements in terms of diversity inclusion, clinical and research teams need to prioritise from the very beginning and reflect that through all the work they do.
There has been evidence of this throughout the industry through the creation of different programmes worldwide.
For example, All of Us was created by the National Institute of Health. It aims to prescribe medicine by considering factors such as biology, lifestyle choices and the patient’s environment.
Equally, there are other programmes in place that target certain diseases.
An example of this is The Skin of Color Society which researches the conditions specific to those individuals.
Research in the medical field has a long way to go, and diversity and inclusion must start now so as not to affect the future of medical results.