Big Pharma Wants to Use AI to Increase Diversity in Clinical Trials
A medicine's effectiveness can vary across racial and ethnic groups, and drugmakers such as Johnson & Johnson are hoping to expand participation beyond the overwhelmingly White populations in current testing.
Black Americans are twice as likely as their White counterparts to develop multiple myeloma, but their participation rate in clinical trials of treatments for the bone marrow cancer is a dismal 4.8%. Now drug giant Johnson & Johnson says it’s had success increasing that share by using an untraditional tool: artificial intelligence.
Algorithms helped J&J pinpoint community centers where Black patients with this cancer might seek treatment. That information helped lift the Black enrollment rate in five ongoing studies to about 10%, the company says. Prominent academic centers or clinics that have traditionally done trials are often not easily accessible by minority or low-income patients because of distance or cost.