Well, last year the FDA said that they
wanted to do more to attract die
participants to clinical trials.
The goal came after the White House said
there was a disproportionate die
burden for underrepresented communities.
Yeah, that means people of color
are being hit harder by disease,
all because medicines and treats
haven't effectively been tested
on black and brown populations,
while a local woman is working
to change that one diagnosis ata
time and another woman I talked.
Says clinical trials actually saved her life.
I had to make the decision for myself
and for my children at the time, ages 9,
four and three, as a single mom.
I had to choose life,
Tammy Barnes says. 25 years ago,
she took a chance on a clinical trial
after a HIPAA violation in her l
town made her health public knowledge.
Now, Tammy says she still participates in
trials because she's proof they can work.
When something didn't work, they were on it.
If I needed to be hospitalized,
I was immediately hospitalized
and monitored around the clock.
My one doctor, he's the chief investigator,
and if I text him, I get a resp.
The FDA says in 2020,
75% of clinical trial participas
were white, 11% were Hispanic,
8% were black and 6% were Asian.
But the US census shows the
overall population is 61% white,
18% Hispanic, 12% black and 6% Asian.
Doctor Elisa Martin says
that points to a problem.
The people that participate in
clinical trials are not truly
representative of the people who
are going to be taking the drug.
That's why she's the CEO of MNB services.
It's her job to increase diversy
and medical clinical trials.
But Doctor Martin says it's an uphill battle,
not just in clinical
trials but in healthcare.
There's been disparities and injustice
that has been perpetuated reallr
hundreds of years or everybody reflects
back to the Tuskegee experiment.
So many things have been put
in place to protect people,
all of the protections that have
been put in place for people
participating in clinical trial.
The informed consent,
the regulatory bodies that
things have really changed.
Late last year,
public law one 17328 was passed.
It requires diversity action
plans for clinical trials used
by the FDA to decide whether
drugs are safe and effective.
Doctor Martin says that's a gret
start for her to come in and
bridge the gap for communities f
color and cutting edge healthcae
and for the under or uninsured.
Clinical trials can also
be an option for care,
diabetes or high blood pressure.
For any type of cancer,
you are not going to get a sugar pill,
you're not going to get a place.
You'll get at least the standard of care,
Tammy says. She prefers the levf
care she's getting in clinical trials,
and when it comes to getting
more diverse representation,
it's vital to the study of care.
The whole person is being
studied in a clinical trial,
but for the benefit of the next person.
OK. So this story focused on
racial diversity, but there is o
much more to add like age where
you live as far as urban or rurl
spaces and a lot of other facto.
Now this is a really big decision for
any patient or family to consid.
So coming up for you tonight at 6:30,
we'll tell you where you can gof
you'd like more information andr
to see if there are any clinical
trials in your ZIP code becausey
get that specific type in your P
code and you can see if there'sa
trial in your area and I think s
important for people to
understand that these.
Trials are not a first step.
I mean these medications have already
been tried out in along several
different animals and along the the way.
And so by the time it is given to someone,
they should be pretty safe.
It's more just figuring
out what's the right dose,
when to give it to him.
You know, I've had the benefit of covering
clinical trials for years now as a journalist
in my career and I gotta tell y,
a lot of the people that I interview,
when they talk about it,
they really like the level of care that
they're getting in a clinical t.
You are monitored,
they don't want anything to go wrong,
everything. No, Ron. So you kno,
it's a big decision to consider,
but because there's this FDA
plan to increase diversity,
we thought we'd share.