Improving Medical Outcomes for Under-served Populations

As the manager of SP Investment Fund LLC, Gil Seton oversees investment opportunities in socially impactful companies and projects. During Gil Seton’s tenure, the investment firm has funded the work of a number of life sciences start-ups, including Coral Genomics, a company that aims to improve diversity in clinical trials to ensure that medical research findings apply to a wider range of people.

Despite the changing racial and ethnic demographics of the United States that soon will make minority groups the majority, people of color are still underrepresented in clinical and medical trials. Similar disparities exist in every demographic.

The majority of clinical trial participants are healthy, middle-aged, white males. This means that approved drugs may harm other groups who are not proportionally represented in the trial process.

Experts in the research field have sought strategies to boost participant diversity. One of the most effective efforts is the widening of trial criteria.

Many trials exclude people because of their age, weight, or health conditions. These criteria should be removed or modified to ensure that participant pools are more reflective of end-users.

Further, to make participation more accessible to a wider group of people, researchers should address logistical barriers, such as a lack of transportation. Additionally, focusing recruitment efforts in areas with more diversity attracts more participants from varied backgrounds.