PCM Trials Helping Drug Makers Increase Diversity in Clinical Trials

The FDA has been advocating for increased diversity in clinical trials for decades, but certain groups remain significantly underrepresented in many studies. For instance, Black/African American people are 1.5 to two times as likely as white people to develop Alzheimer’s disease, but one study found just 4% of participants in trials were Black or Hispanic.

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the innovation of new models to reach these groups, including the introduction of mobile research units. Drug maker Eli Lilly first developed these mobile labs on wheels in 2020, to keep its clinical trials going in the first year of the Covid pandemic. But this strategy, borne first of necessity, has now become a proven, effective way to meet underrepresented ethnic and racial groups where they are, and engage them in clinical research that may directly affect their health.

Eli Lilly drove two of their mobile labs to the Black Women’s Expo in Atlanta earlier this year to recruit older Black women for an Alzheimer’s trial. Our PCM Trials Certified Mobile Research Nurses were onboard helping staff those mobile labs, screening Expo attendees who were interested in participating in the trial.

CNBC filmed a segment about what this mobile recruitment looks like, and our nursing staff was excited to be part of the program. Watch the video here: