Improving Diversity in Clinical Trial Volunteer Participation by Addressing Racial and Ethnic Representation Among the Clinical Research Workforces

Vanco Vlastimil (��ֳ� S.A.) — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 15:30:57 +0000

Zoma Foster, Patient Value Development Solutions

Vanco Vlastimi… Tue 09/08/2022 - 17:30

At ��ֳ�, our vision is to ensure participants in ��ֳ� clinical trials are reflective of the populations that will ultimately benefit from our new medicines. We look for opportunities to partner and collaborate with organizations that can support and drive initiatives that will seek and include diverse patients in ��ֳ� clinical trials. This commitment to external collaborations and bringing lessons learned back to ��ֳ� ensures we are connected to best practices in the industry. A recent example of this partnership occurred with Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development.

��ֳ�, along with other peer pharmaceutical companies and Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), worked with Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development to conduct a study to characterize and examine the relationship between investigative site personnel diversity and study participant diversity. The study concluded that a diverse clinical research workforce is associated with diversity among clinical trial volunteers. It also showed that diversity in the clinical research workforce still falls short of reflecting the diversity of the global patient population and identified key areas to support increased racial and ethnic representation among site staff.

Community Engagement Program

Our Community Engagement Partner Program is one approach ��ֳ� is taking to address these findings. We aim to collaborate directly with health professionals and their local communities to listen to the community’s needs, answer questions related to clinical research, and educate about clinical trials within the community. Our goal is to create direct collaboration between health professionals and their local communities through a range of initiatives, such as:

Listening to the needs of the community
Answering questions related to clinical research
Educating about clinical trials within the community
Engaging proactively in activities such as walks, health fairs, public forums, and educational seminars
Providing information to patients about clinical trials in their area in an easy-to-understand format

We anticipate the outcomes of these initiatives will:

Improve awareness of the importance of diversity in clinical trials (including HCP/Staff education and training)
Develop and foster long-term relationships with local communities and patient support groups/advocacy initiatives
Establish a footprint in the diversity landscape to improve awareness and access to ��ֳ� clinical programs
Increase the number of referral centers for ��ֳ� clinical programs
Increase the number of diverse investigators identified and referred to ��ֳ� for clinical trials
Increase the number of diverse patients participating in ��ֳ� clinical trials

Partnering for Greater Impact

��ֳ� recently worked with industry leaders as a member company of TransCelerate to launch their Sponsor Toolkit Program for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of Participants in Clinical Trials. In addition, ��ֳ� is a proud member of PhRMA who just launched Equitable Breakthroughs in Medicine Development to further innovation and collaboration, bringing together diverse communities, patients, providers, health partners, community organizations and academic institutions to pilot a network of sustainable, connected, community-based trial sites.

Although as an industry, we still have work to do, through partnerships and initiatives such as these, we are building on a strong foundation to promote inclusion of underrepresented patients in clinical trials.

Contributors: Zoma Foster (Tufts Study); Nicole Tillery (TransCelerate Toolkit); Iris Loew-Friedrich (��ֳ� DE&I Executive Sponsor)

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Community Engagement Program

Improving Diversity in Clinical Trial Volunteer Participation by Addressing Racial and Ethnic Representation Among the Clinical Research Workforces

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