Why is BIPOC representation in clinical trials so important and necessary to finding an effective COVID-19 treatment?
Experts in This Article
biochemist, neurobiologist, antibody engineer, and senior scientist atGlaxoSmithKline.
Judith Currier is the chief of the division of infectious diseases at the University of California-Los Angeles.
Well+Good: How are communities of color disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic?
Katya Corado, MD:People of color are more likely to get hospitalized and die of COVID-19.
There are many reasons behind that.
biochemist, neurobiologist, antibody engineer, and senior scientist atGlaxoSmithKline.
Our communities are frontline workers continuing to work at the supermarket.
They are Uber drivers.
They are people who have constant contact with the community.
I see patients who dont have documentation to be in this country.
And so in many cases, they wait till very late in their disease for care.
So that means, theyre walking around with undiagnosed high blood pressure, undiagnosed diabetes.
And so when COVID-19 hits them, it doesnt care if youre diagnosed or not.
Again, one factor is occupation.
Working in frontline positions where youre exposed to people put people at risk.
biochemist, neurobiologist, antibody engineer, and senior scientist atGlaxoSmithKline.
What inspired you to get BIPOC and Spanish-speaking communities involved in clinical trials?
KC:My family is from South America, from Peru.
We moved from Peru to Brazil where we spent 10 years waiting for a visa.
They sought care at safety net hospitals when they needed it.
Its Amazing How Its All Connected.
I trust you, you are a part of my community.
I believe in you.
Versus someone who is not part of the community who tries to do outreach.
Katya Corado, MD
What is the importance of having communities of color represented in clinical trials?
Say I have a clinical trial that enrolls a hundred people, right?
And Im testing this treatment to see if it works for whatever disease.
I enrolled a hundred people, but those 100 people are all young white men.
KC:Communities of color are less likely to uptake the vaccine.
When I think about these things, this really tears at my heart.
How do we bridge that gap?
How do we create more trust between communities of color and the medical community?
One of the ways that its done is by having people like me on these studies right?
JC:The ACTIV-2 trial is aimed at finding early treatments for COVID.
When people are first diagnosed, theyre told to stay home and wait and see if they get sick.
And we want to intervene early to prevent people from getting sick and needing to go to the hospital.
Listen to a biochemist explain how vaccines work:
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