Clinical trials are one of healthcare's most powerful tools, and one of its most underutilized pathways to patient care and innovative therapies. Yet, they have too often been positioned as a last resort rather than a viable care option, limiting patient access, slowing enrollment, and making the path to new treatment options longer.
Identifying and matching patients to the right clinical trial opportunity remains the single-largest cause of clinical trial delays, with many trials failing to meet their initial enrollment targets. But meeting an enrollment target doesn't guarantee the right patients are represented, as trials consistently fall short of reflecting the communities that carry the greatest burden of disease.
What are the biggest hurdles to patient participation? How has community-based clinical research bolstered patient-trial matching and the ability for trial populations to better reflect the intended patient population? How do innovative trial designs help achieve better science while accelerating patient access to new therapies?
On this Clinical Trials Day, The Hill and Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) convened for a discussion on how federal regulations and legislation can be modernized to eliminate regulatory and financial barriers to clinical research, ensuring that all patients – in urban, suburban, and rural communities alike – can participate in clinical trials as part of their healthcare journey.
Following the afternoon's programming, attendees stepped outside to the Woodrow Wilson Plaza, where two of Lilly's Mobile Research Units (MRUs) were stationed for live tours.
Reimagining Access in Clinical Research
Monica Webb Hooper, Acting Director, National Institute on Minority Health & Health Disparities, National Institute of Health (NIH) and Dr. Christina Annunziata, SVP— Extramural Discovery Science, American Cancer Society in conversation with Margaret Chadbourn, Washington Correspondent, Nexstar
