The New York Times recently detailed the lack of minority representation in a majority of clinical trials to fight cancer. Immunotherapy studies, such as with nivolumab, use patients that are overwhelming white. Participation of minorities was “out of proportion with the groups’ numbers in the general population and their cancer rates.” Research funded by The National Institutes of Health is required by law to include minorities and women to see if they react to treatment differently than others. Unfortunately, very few clinical trials are being paid for by the NIH.

Some researchers and doctors are taking the next step to seek out these disadvantage patients to bring the clinical trials to them. The Queens Hospital Cancer Center, in collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, provides cancer care and access to clinical trials to the diverse population of Queens. Translation services are a key factor, as the very specific language of consent forms and medical information can be difficult to understand.  Patients at Queens, interviewed for the article, are very happy with this program.

The New York Times believes the lack of minority representation stems from the idea that “people in minority groups tend to have lower incomes and less education, and therefore less awareness of medical studies and how to find them. Many live in areas that do not have easy access to a major cancer center. Moreover, minority patients with cancer are more likely to have other, poorly controlled chronic diseases like diabetes that may make them ineligible for studies.” A lack of requirements for racial representation in studies published by medical journals can also be a contributing factor to the “unequal care that contributes to higher death rates from treatable cancers in some groups.”  Hopefully, more programs like the one at The Queens Hospital Cancer Center will form and clinical trials will because more and more available to those who need them.