Journal of Clinical Trials
Open Access
ISSN: 2167-0870
ISSN: 2167-0870
Grace Borsellino
Western Sydney University School of Law, Australia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Clin Trials
Many patients are prescribed a drug by their clinician and provided with a brochure on the possible side effects of the medication without truly knowing what kind of a population represented them during the testing of the drug and what kinds of people generated the possible side effects. As a patient and practitioner, wouldnâ??t it be great to know how many people were tested on, what their gender was, their ethnic origin and which country they were tested in as part of the information on your drug brochure? I make the bold recommendation that Pharmaceutical companies allow patients to access this information in a user-friendly manner allowing them to make more informed choices about the drugs they decide to consume. A lack of diversity in research participants impacts our ability to generalize results because studies may fail to detect relevant findings in specific groups owing to the effects of their unique mix of environmental, physiological, and cultural factors. I argue that studies should report on the breakdown of categories in which their research participants originate from, a diversity scorecard if you will. It is important that the scientific community recognizes that diversity among research participants is not simply a government requirement but instead a scientific and ethical obligation needed to achieve equality and eliminate health disparities.