Software firm Reify Health has launched a tool to help clinical trial sites determine how effectively they are engaging patients from underrepresented communities.
The technology – called StudyTeam Diversity Reporting – is designed to determine enrolment strategies and to determine if sites are able to connect with and pre-screen candidates equally across minority groups.
The software can also help trial sites identify if patients from minority groups experience a higher rate of attrition when moving through enrolment and suggest where sites and sponsors need to invest more recruitment resources.
CEO Ralph Passarella cited growing demand for greater diversity in clinical research as the motivation for developing the platform, suggesting the trials sector has a systemic problem.
“Improving diversity in clinical trials isn’t a 2021 issue. It’s a 2020s’ issue. We are taking a long-term view that starts with developing a quantitative understanding of where and why our industry is failing to engage certain communities.
“We look forward to ongoing collaboration with our site and sponsor partners on this important effort until we, as an industry, are consistently enrolling trials that represent the patients we all serve.”
Diversity drive
The lack of diversity in clinical research has indeed become a major focus for industry in the past few years.
Recent analysis by Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development (CSDD) showed that the proportion of a given race or ethnicity among investigative site personnel closely aligns with the corresponding race and ethnicity of patients enrolled in clinical trials at that site.
The study also found that worldwide, regardless of geographic location, the diversity of patients enrolled in clinical trials is highly correlated with site personnel diversity.
And efforts to enhance diversity have emerged as a business driver for the contracting sector. For example, in October Eli Lilly partnered with Boston-based Care Access to diversity its pool of participants.
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