Congratulations, congratulations to the clinical research industry and to our patients. I’m Dr. Jeff Kingsley and welcome to another edition of Riding in Cars with Researchers.

You’ve heard me talk in the past about the ethical and scientific imperative to have diverse patient populations in clinical research. It is unethical and scientifically unsound to do research on white men and assume that the data is going to be the same in women or people of African descent or Asian descent or any other descent. There is an ethical and scientific imperative to have diverse patient populations.

Well, in the era of COVID-19, the FDA said, “Hey industry, COVID-19 is affecting minority populations more than other populations. It is impacting the African-American or black community more than it is the white community. It is impacting the Hispanic, Latino community more than it is the white community. You absolutely must have diverse patient populations in order to seek FDA approval.”

So what happened? Well, the industry responded exactly as they should. The industry said we must have access to these populations. If this virus is impacting those populations more severely, then we have to have those populations in our research studies. And what else happened? Well, those populations showed up. Those populations came into the office and signed consent and participated in clinical research trials. It’s been fantastic. It’s been really phenomenal. It’s been beautiful to see.

And so our industry has changed, has responded, has accessed diverse patient populations. And those populations have said, “We’ll show up. We want to be part of the solution. We want to participate in clinical research. We want to be part of advancing healthcare.” So congratulations, congratulations to the industry and to the patients for stepping up and doing the right thing. I am so proud to be part of this industry and kudos to you.

Thanks for riding along!

Send me topics you want me to talk about at jeff.kingsley@centricityresearch.com!

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