Arif Kamal: Cancer can affect anyone, but does not affect everyone equally

Arif Kamal, Chief Patient Officer at American Cancer Society, posted on LinkedIn:

“Cancer can affect anyone, but does not affect everyone equally.

As cancer clinical trials have shifted from mostly “experimentation” (focused on building the science) to access to “innovation” (focused on getting the cutting edge treatments to those who could benefit, quicker), it is crucial that those who experience cancer are represented in such clinical trials.

But that’s not the case today. For example, while 14% of the US population is Black, a 6% higher cancer incidence rate will be observed in this community. And the mortality differences are astounding, as well.

One root cause of that is disparate representativeness of cancer clinical trials. For example, less than 5% of Black adults eligible for clinical trials are enrolled in such studies.

Towards closing this gap, the American Cancer Society and FDA Oncology Center of Excellence are hosting an open, public symposium on “Setting Benchmarks for Diversity in Oncology Clinical Trials” on Thursday, March 21 in DC in a hybrid format.

The discuss will center around demographic representativeness by evaluating fit-for-purpose data sources to inform benchmarks for representativeness; applying methodology that helps convert these benchmarks to attainable enrollment goals for a clinical trial using U.S. population-based data, and; accounting for the non-US population enrolled in most oncology trials.

We invite anyone with an interest to join us virtually, registering here.”

Source: Arif Kamal/LinkedIn