Customer Story

How diversity, equity and inclusion in clinical trails leads to better health outcomes

May 17, 2023

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur. Bibendum quis ullamcorper id non eu sed cras. Felis sem nunc libero mattis rhoncus vitae id laoreet. Elementum dui neque nulla et donec pulvinar. Tincidunt eget pellentesque dignissim purus lorem vestibulum et. Adipiscing ut molestie sit enim eget consequat.

Aenean congue quis eget turpis. Eleifend ut nisi luctus nisl id aliquet. Iaculis blandit mi in fames et pretium. Nulla lectus aliquam odio quisque quis magna lacinia scelerisque. Eget etiam turpis cursus elementum facilisis eu tortor volutpat varius. Ipsum velit enim id donec condimentum ultrices. Ipsum justo proin faucibus tellus neque sit mattis varius sed. Donec nullam praesent odio ac. Risus mattis neque vitae sit dui faucibus mauris.

Vitae donec amet at orci tortor id nulla non. Nec massa faucibus eu hac aliquet. Amet nunc accumsan pellentesque aliquet velit in egestas id. Aliquam adipiscing eu nec rutrum amet posuere. Ac dignissim ante eget tortor dolor tincidunt. Ut tellus non lectus nibh et consequat nibh metus pellentesque. Felis sollicitudin scelerisque adipiscing turpis mattis. Odio tempor pellentesque cursus leo. Augue nunc arcu venenatis vitae mi tempus maecenas. Justo mauris consequat fames eleifend gravida. Donec dolor ut lorem diam.

A wide variety of factors, including unconscious biases and structural barriers, can lead to a lack of inclusive trials. Historically, this has been a significant issue. Prior to the rules and regulations in place to protect today’s study subjects, researchers sometimes behaved unscrupulously in the care of their participants, may have preferred study subject homogeneity in an effort to achieve consistency, or otherwise disregarded the detrimental impact their research might have.

The resulting mistrust of the medical establishment among many minority populations persists today and is one of several obstacles to underserved participation in research. Additional factors include the accessibility of research by community-based physicians serving these populations, language barriers, varying degrees of health literacy, or the lack of inclusion of diverse groups in recruitment outreach and awareness campaigns.

These factors can have a tangible impact on trial participation. For example, 75% of the clinical trial population in the United States was white in 2020, despite the fact that whites composed only 62% of the national population.[3],[4] This was also true on a global scale. 76% of worldwide trial participants in 2020 where white, even though roughly 75% of the world’s population lives in either Asia or sub-Saharan Africa.[5] Data on the participation of trial participants in other traditionally underserved communities (native language, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.) is also limited.

“Follett didn’t come to us with a bookstore. They came to us with solutions — and not just for what we need now, but with an eye on what we will need in the future.”

Raymond A. Dennis, MBA, MA

Associate Vice President, Auxiliary Management, Loyola Marymount University

Practical steps to ensuring more diverse, equitable, and inclusive clinical trials

Representative diversity in staffing – It starts with the team you hire. Employees from varying geographic and underrepresented groups can help provide diverse views on the design and execution of clinical research studies, as well as uncover nuances and biases that may otherwise be overlooked. Patients often prefer to be under the care of physicians and staff who understand and even share their backgrounds.

1. At Lexitas, for instance, we are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion in hiring and in clinical research. We know from experience that this leads to more substantive attention to diversity in the execution of our studies, from design all the way to regulatory approval.
2. Partnering with diverse investigators, sites, and patient advocacy organization – Understanding the complexity of bias, equity, cultural sensitivities, and language requirements requires partnerships with people on the ground who are familiar with the needs of underserved communities. Building long-term relationships and partnerships with diverse groups of stakeholders is essential to creating, and course correcting, studies that can effectively recruit and retain trial participants.
3. Incorporating new investigators and sites in clinical research – To get to new patient communities, sponsors and CROs must evolve, grow, and enable the pool of sites and investigators trained and active in clinical research. This includes ensuring appropriate access to the research site. A patient living in a rural area will encounter different issues than one who lives in a dense, urban environment. A site network should ensure inclusion of the different geographies in which patients live so that more patients can access clinical research from their own physicians and in their own communities.
4. Partnering with the right CRO – finding the right CRO partner is critically important. Look for CROs that truly believe in and embrace diversity in their own hiring practices. These are the ones most likely to build it into trial design as well. They will help ensure that communications and outreach are relevant and appropriate to different populations. This leads to the types of trials that both investigators and patients want to participate in, resulting in higher enrollment and better reten

Getting started

As we’ve seen, diversity, equity, and inclusion are not afterthoughts to conducting a successful study or impacting clinical results. They are critical aspects, especially as drug design moves increasingly in the direction of complex precision medicines. At Lexitas, we truly believe that diversity and inclusion are fundamental criteria that have a real tangible impact on health outcomes. We invite you to speak with us about how to ensure inclusion and diversity for your ophthalmology trials.