In New Report, AdvaMed Seeks Ways to Increase Diversity in Clinical Research and Addressing Health Equities

WASHINGTON – Last week, the Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) released a report titled “Approaches to Increasing Diversity in Clinical Research and Addressing Health Inequities”, a new document intended to outline considerations and approaches to improving representation in clinical research with the goal of reducing and eliminating health disparities. AdvaMed, the largest global trade organization representing the medical technology sector, previously launched the Responding To Racial Disparities In Health initiative in 2020 and developed a set of four Principles on Health Equity to promote inclusion and equity in healthcare and research in the medtech industry.

“The medtech industry’s entire mission is to save and improve patients’ lives—and we take our responsibility very seriously to ensure all patients have access to these technologies and treatments. We are committed to eliminating the inequities that currently exist in our health system, and one key way to do that is through greater diversity in clinical trials,” said Scott Whitaker, President and CEO of AdvaMed. “This report is the newest resource AdvaMed has produced in our ongoing efforts to support our members as they improve and strengthen their own health equity efforts.”

The insights informing this new report come from a workshop series hosted by Meharry Medical College and AdvaMed over the course of three months last year. Workshop topics included Ethics, Trust, & Engagement: Addressing the Challenges of Clinical Trial Diversity, Building Trusted Networks, and Addressing Diversity Through Patient Centered Trials (view recordings and key takeaways from the 3-part series).

“One of the principles guiding our health equity work recognizes the impact of clinical trial diversity on the ability to bring devices to market that improve the health outcomes for the full range of intended patients,” said DeChane Dorsey, executive director of AdvaMed Accel and the lead on AdvaMed’s health equity workstream. “The information coming out of the workshops coupled with the report findings will hopefully assist our members and others in advancing the promotion of research equity.”

Key Recommendations:

• Be aware of historical biases that exist in clinical research and potential mistrust of the healthcare system by underrepresented populations.
• Have intentional conversations with company leadership and various stakeholders to highlight the potential impact of the lack of diversity in current trials. Develop goals to broaden evidence generation efforts to include a more diverse patient population in clinical research and measure your progress.
• Use a variety of available tools to adequately define the targeted patient population, including leveraging RWD sources.
• Create a sustainable community of researchers. Partner with more community-based clinicians. Coordinate with clinical investigators to inform other local clinicians of study opportunities to support diverse enrollment.
• Be prepared to go to the patient by broadening the types and locations of the trial sites and diversity of investigators.
• Understand the importance of building trust in recruiting diverse participants: between patients and clinicians, companies and clinical investigators/sites, and companies and communities.

Read the full report here and learn more about AdvaMed’s Health Equity work here.