Todd C. Knepper and Howard L. McLeod
When Will Clinical Trials Finally Reflect Diversity?
Nature, 2018
What's inside?
More diversity in clinical trials will lead to safer drugs.
Recommendation
You seek treatment for a health condition, and your doctor writes you a prescription. But will the drug be safe for you? If you are a racial or ethnic minority, or have a rare genetic variant, chances are that what works for others will be ineffective or even dangerous for you. The term “others” in this case refers to clinical trial participants who continue to be predominantly white, as Todd C. Knepper and Howard L. McLeod explain in the journal Nature. Their article makes a compelling case for diversifying clinical trials and will engage anyone concerned with science, health care and society as a whole.
Summary
About the Authors
Todd C. Knepper is a personalized medicine specialist and Howard L. McLeod is chair of the Department of Individualized Cancer Medicine at DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute in Tampa, Florida.
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