In a New Yorker article about how evolutionary psychology findings are usually based on surveys of undergraduates, Anthony Gottlieb wrote, “American college kids, whatever their charms, are a laughable proxy for Homo sapiens.” Biomedical research can suffer from a similar bias: Subjects don’t always represent the full range of patients in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. But why is it important to have diversity among subjects in clinical trials? One benefit is that involving a diverse...
advancing-medical-research
With a growing emphasis on patient-reported outcomes, study volunteers are becoming active participants in evaluating a treatment’s efficacy. Since the first reported controlled clinical trial in 1747, when Scottish surgeon James Lind studied how eating oranges and lemons can cure scurvy among sailors at sea, patients have always been essential to expanding medical knowledge and developing new therapies. After all, no one knows your body like you do. But for the most part, patients have been...
When researchers design a clinical trial, they can’t ignore the powerful—and often bizarre—placebo effect. Since ancient times, healers have known the power of the mind-body connection — specifically, the mind’s ability to influence how the body feels. This influence can at times be so strong that the treatment doesn’t even have to be “real” for the patient’s symptoms to subside. This is the placebo effect, and it’s a very real phenomenon, both in the lab and in the doctor’s office. In fact...
When the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently gave a presentation on diversity in clinical trials, Dr. Ricardo Rojo wasn’t surprised to hear that — at least for medicines where gender is not overtly relevant — research participants today are predominantly white men. Rojo, Pfizer’s first Global Lead for Diversity in Clinical Trials, is on a mission to change this. For years, the FDA, the pharmaceutical industry and various stakeholders have been working to improve racial, ethnic and...
By tapping into more diverse genomes, researchers are gaining novel insights into disease and drug safety. For a variety of historical and logistical reasons, the vast majority of genomics research, to date, has been done in European populations. A 2016 analysis in the journal Nature found that 81 percent of participants in genetic research are of European ancestry. But in recent years scientists are pushing to expand research into more diverse groups to gain broader insights into the...
At-home DNA tests are driving patient participation in research. DNA kits can trace more than your ancestry. They’re also helping medical research. Patients with lupus and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) recently became a pivotal part of studies without ever stepping foot in a clinic or hospital, thanks to a collaboration formed between Pfizer and the genetic testing company 23andMe. The mission: find genetic clues that may someday lead to more precise treatments. The method: mail in saliva...
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