ACRO awards site grants to boost diversity in studies
Contract research industry group ACRO has awarded seven clinical trial sites grant funding under its diversity and inclusion program.
Sites in New York, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, Georgia, California, and North Carolina will receive awards to support a 12-month pilot program focused on the development of strategies to improve diversity in drug research.
Tafoya Hubbard, grants program manager at ACRO, said, “We hope that ACRO’s D&I Site Resource Grants Program will help to elevate these seven projects as proof-of-concept initiatives to show the broader industry that a small investment can go a long way toward improving representation in clinical trials.”
ACRO selected the sites after reviewing multiple applications, choosing both those in need of upskilling to attract industry studies as well as more established sites aiming to increase the representativeness of participants.
Executive director Doug Peddicord said, “We are extremely excited to inaugurate this project, which aims to try out varying approaches to improving the diversity of clinical trial populations and look forward to reporting out on the results and insights.”
Clinical trial diversity?
In 2022, the US FDA started asking sponsors to submit a “Race and Ethnicity Diversity Plan,” setting out how they plan to recruit a diverse range of participants as part of their clinical trial applications.
The requirement, which then President Joe Biden signed into law as part of the Food and Drug Omnibus Reform Act (FDORA), called on sponsors to set enrollment goals, provide a rationale for each, and explain they would meet those goals.
A few months later, ACRO issued a guide to help CROs and sponsors to develop enrollment goals that meet with FDA requirements and encourage people from underrepresented populations participate in drug research.
However, in late January this year, the FDA removed the guidance on diversity action plans from its website. The agency has not commented on the move.
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