By Hady Khoury, Chief Development Officer, Medable. The life sciences industry has been talking about improving diversity in clinical trials for years. Historically, this talk has amounted to a lot of hot air. But the situation is urgent: while racial and ethnic minorities comprise nearly 40% of the US population, they only account for 2% to 16% of clinical trial participation. Within oncology, Black Americans constitute around 22% of cancer cases, but less than 5% of trial enrollees. This isn’t just a US issue; globally, 76% of patients enrolled in oncology trials are white. And this challenge exists within a research landscape where nearly 80% of trials fall short of enrollment targets to begin with.

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By Ingrid Oakley-Girvan, PhD, SVP, Value and Strategy. As decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) become more prevalent, particularly in the wake of the pandemic, their lower burden approach can make participation more attractive for some. Yet the vexing issue of retaining participants throughout the course of a trial will continue to be problematic without a thoughtful approach to keep them engaged. A three-phase model of engagement, based on proven science and intelligently informed by utilizing data, can make important inroads into solving this long-standing challenge.

By Musaddiq Khan, VP DCT Solutions. The pace of development for new medicines has traditionally been slow and burdened with lengthy enrollment, conduct, and analysis timelines. However, COVID-19 was a catalyst to adopt novel approaches to drug development that have harnessed technology to create new, accelerated processes for conducting clinical trials. Technology-enabled hybrid and decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) are now moving from the periphery into starring roles across many areas of research—with a notable exception.