Achieving Diversity And Building Trust In Clinical Trials

By Viraj Narayanan and Christopher Boone

From a public health standpoint, there is more attention than ever on clinical research, with average citizens now being fluent in the language of the Phase 1 study and how to interpret research results.

Clinical trials remain the gold standard for bringing new lifesaving drugs to market. Historically, however, these trials have overenrolled healthy, wealthy, and white participants while leaving out or underrepresenting other populations that stand to benefit from their outcomes. Acknowledging these shortcomings and understanding the underlying causes are the first steps to achieving an equitable research design. Various initiatives underway offer a promising path forward, from promoting transparency, to virtualizing trials, to employing real-world data to learn from the experiences of actual patients.