Few people sign up and participate in clinical trials, and those who do don't always represent the entire U.S. population. Since a specific population can be more at risk for a certain disease, it's important this population is represented in clinical studies researching new treatments for the disease.
The Food and Drug Administration is making new efforts to encourage participation in clinical trials, particularly people of different ages, races, ethnic groups and genders.
Here are four ways the FDA is working to encourage diversity.
1. The agency contains a branch on its website containing tools and information to encourage clinical trial participation. Information focuses on people of different ages, races, ethnic groups and genders, according to the report.
2. The FDA's Office of Women's Health and National Institutes of Health's Office for Research on Women's Health launched an initiative to raise clinical trial awareness among women and share best practices for participating.
3. The FDA's Office of Minority Health provides tools and resources encouraging individuals and healthcare providers to learn about upcoming clinical trials.
4. The agency also offers guidance on diversity for researchers as appropriate. Recently, the FDA issued new recommendations on how race and ethnicity data should be collected.
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