Patient Inclusion

Removing barriers so clinical trials are open to all

At Parexel, we put patients first. Across race, gender, age, ability, and economic status, we strive to make clinical trials accessible to all, so that the choice to participate is always in the patient’s hands.

By broadening recruitment efforts and tapping into real-world patient insights, we’re able to include diverse patients, design trials that meet their needs, and yield superior drugs that work across populations. Here’s how we can help you make your clinical trials more equitable and effective.

Better access for underrepresented groups

Patients from historically disadvantaged groups do not participate in clinical trials as frequently as others. These patients miss out on leading-edge drugs and therapies, as well as the basic healthcare associated with participating in a trial. Furthermore, because drugs are often tested on a fairly homogeneous set of patients, scientists and physicians often fail to obtain important data about how they affect patients from other groups.

By making your trials more inclusive, we can improve health outcomes across the board, especially in populations that are already predisposed to poor health due to poverty and discrimination.

Our comprehensive tactics to expanding access to clinical trials include:

• Placing trial sites in communities that would otherwise lack access
• Providing education materials to dispel common misconceptions about what trials are and what they entail
• Designing trials that are sensitive to common barriers to access, such as lack of time and transportation

Rethinking trial design

To make your trial accessible to all, you need to prioritize patient needs from the design phase onwards. With us as your partner, you’ll have access to a service called Patient Insights, which solicits feedback from patients, staff, and providers long before your trial even begins, to assess whether your strategy is feasible or might pose unexpected obstacles. Based on these insights, you might:

• Reassess your testing schedule to reduce the patient burden
• Use more inclusive language in patient materials
• Determine that some patient assessments could be handled virtually, rather than in person

Staying at the forefront of inclusion

One of the ways we strive to be thought leaders in patient inclusion is through our production of a series of reports called “Discussions on Diversity.” Derived from extensive conversations with patients, caregivers, physicians, and community advocates, these reports address the complex issues that underlie how patients interact with clinical trials. Our findings are then translated into action items that help us and our clients make trials more inclusive.

By getting to the root causes of inequity, we hope to create solutions that work for everyone.