Disparities in Clinical Trials: Why you should participate
Less than 5% of all cancer patients are currently enrolled in a clinical trial. Further, even though cancer mortality is higher among minorities, less than 10% of racial and ethnical minorities are enrolled in clinical trials – with minorities being 60% as likely to enroll in a clinical trial compared to white women. The underrepresentation of minorities in clinical trials means that there are few studies that analyze and report safety and efficacy by race or ethnicity. Therefore, it is difficult to know if minority patients tend to have a specific type or subtype of cancer and if they process certain drugs differently.
As a minority, participating in a clinical trial allows the researchers to conduct a study that is more representative of the general population and to gather racial and ethnic data on the disease and treatments that they are studying. Participating in a clinical trial also allows you to have access to the newest treatments and care that are hopefully more effective than the current standard care. In some cases, you could earn money as a volunteer study participant.
Do you know where to find a clinical trial? Here are some resources:
- Clinicaltrials.gov as almost 8,000 breast cancer clinical trials.
- Breastcancertrials.org has over 600 breast cancer clinical trials. There are almost 90 trials for early state breast cancer and over 200 trials for advanced breast cancer.
- CenterWatch has more than 1,000 breast cancer clinical trials. They are all currently recruiting study subjects.
- AbbVie’s Clinical Trial Database lets you search for trials near you.
Find more information on clinical trials on our website at www.tigerlilyfoundation.org/breast-cancer-toolkit/clinical-trials/