The lack of minority participation in MS clinical trials can probably be blamed on a variety of factors.
“When trials are created, sometimes there are very strict criteria around, for instance, control of diabetes or hypertension,” explains Mitzi Joi Williams, MD, a neurologist and MS specialist with Joi Life Wellness Group, a private practice in Atlanta. “And that may automatically exclude populations that have higher rates of these other medical problems.”
Other potential barriers to minority enrollment, Dr. Williams says, include the limited number of MS centers that recruit for clinical trials, and reluctance on the part of some groups to participate in trials.
In particular, low enrollment of Black Americans in clinical trials is unfortunate because, by some estimates, this group has the highest risk of MS among racial and ethnic groups in the United States. According to research, including a study published in November 2016 in Multiple Sclerosis Journal, Black and Hispanic Americans with MS tend to experience greater disability than their white counterparts at the same point in the course of their disease.
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So it’s no small thing that a new clinical trial of Ocrevus, called CHIMES (Characterization of Ocrelizumab in Minorities With Multiple Sclerosis), is the first to focus on how an MS treatment affects minority groups — in this case, “self-identified African American and Hispanic or Latin American participants with a diagnosis of relapsing multiple sclerosis,” according to the study description posted on ClinicalTrials.gov.
Here’s what you should know about what researchers aim to learn from this study, and how these findings could change how MS is studied and treated.
READ more, including information on Racial Disparities by Clicking HERE
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