Opinion: Clinical trials need to include more Black and other minority participants. Here’s how
The Covid-19 pandemic and the disproportionate devastation it has wrought on Black, Hispanic, and poor Americans has (again) raised the call for creating inclusive clinical trials that are representative of patient populations. That’s an important goal, but it’s easier said than done.
I work as a patient advocate for Eidos Therapeutics, a biotech company focused on developing a treatment for transthyretin amyloidosis, an underrecognized cause of heart failure with a disproportionate racial impact due to a disease-causing mutation found in 3% to 4% of Black Americans. Part of my job is to help recruit Black and other underrepresented minority participants for clinical trials. I’ve seen the challenges of recruiting Black people to take part in clinical trials, but I’ve also seen how successful it can be.
