The impact of the globalization of cancer clinical trials on the enrollment of Black patients

Black patients continue to be underrepresented in cancer clinical trials; this disparity has worsened in recent years perhaps because of the globalization of cancer clinical trials. In an analysis of demographic information from 21 cancer clinical trials leading to US Food and Drug Administration approvals between 2015 and 2018, clinical trials conducted primarily outside the United States were 2-fold less likely to enroll Black participants than US clinical trials. Thus, the globalization of cancer clinical trials may have the unintended consequence of further exacerbating existing racial disparities in cancer clinical trial representation and ultimately the generalizability of trial results.