#ClinicalTrialsSoWhite: How Drug Makers Are Using COVID-19 To Improve Trial Diversity

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted a number of deficiencies within the US health care system, chief among them the vast gulf of inequality between different ethnic groups and geographic areas, a gulf that has resulted in the virus causing significant disease and death among Black, Latino and Native American communities. A consequence of that inequality is that the populations enrolled into clinical trials have historically often not properly reflected the ethnic makeup of the country.

The pandemic has drawn significant attention to the issue of clinical trial diversity, and as a result, several drug makers have sought to address the problem as they develop vaccines and therapeutics to combat COVID-19. Some, like Moderna and Pfizer – the first companies to win emergency use authorizations from the US Food and Drug Administration for vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus – have made particularly well-publicized efforts to include diverse populations in their studies