Abstract IA05: Addressing racial health care disparities by advancing inclusive research
Authors: Gonzales Melissa S. , Wilson Gerren , Richie Nicole , Highsmith Quita 
Published: December 2020

Health care disparities have been well documented for decades, and they continue to have a disproportionate impact on communities of color. Social determinants of health, lack of disease awareness, delayed diagnoses, and the inability to physically access medical care are just a few of the known barriers that dramatically affect health outcomes in underserved communities. In total, racial disparities in health amount to ~$93 billion in excess medical care costs and $42 billion in lost productivity and economic losses. Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, is deeply committed to addressing health disparities and strongly believes that representation of real-world patient populations is required to improve clinical outcomes for all patients. We envision a world where all individuals can have access to personalized health care and a future of science that is more diverse, inclusive, and equitable. To help address racial disparities in health care, Genentech developed Advancing Inclusive Research®, a US-focused and cross-organizational initiative to ensure clinical research is representative of broader patient populations so that everyone with serious and life-threatening diseases has the opportunity to benefit from investigational medicines. To build new solutions to address inequities in clinical research, we formed an interdisciplinary advisory council composed of physicians, academic research experts, specialty CRO executives, and patient advocates with expertise in oncology, ophthalmology, and neuroscience clinical care, research, and genomics. Through our collective work, we have evolved our approach in designing clinical research programs and implemented a number of structural changes. At the earliest stages in communicating with site investigators, we reinforce the importance of recruiting representative patient populations in clinical research and have modified our contract language to encourage inclusion of underrepresented patients. Additionally, we changed our inclusion/exclusion protocols to be more inclusive of patients with diverse ethnicity. We are now poised to deliver innovative clinical research, including CHaracterization of ocrelizumab In Minorities with multiplE Sclerosis (CHIMES), a clinical trial to study a treatment for multiple sclerosis specifically within the Black and Hispanic patient populations. As we take action to provide better care, better health, and better value to patients, we know that reducing health disparities, and specifically addressing the lack of underrepresented populations in clinical research, is an essential part of that mission.

Citation Format: Melissa S. Gonzales, Gerren Wilson, Nicole Richie, Quita Highsmith. Addressing racial health care disparities by advancing inclusive research [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Virtual Conference: Thirteenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2020 Oct 2-4. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2020;29(12 Suppl):Abstract nr IA05.