The National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) and Biogen will today discuss the importance of generating real-world evidence on a webinar hosted by NMQF on equitable access to research and care. Together, the organizations have also issued a white paper highlighting how real-world evidence (RWE) is able to include larger patient populations that are historically underrepresented in randomized controlled trials, including, for example, patients who are ethnically/racially/geographically diverse, have comorbid conditions or are taking concomitant medications.
“In order to address the disproportionate burden of premature deaths and preventable illnesses for racial and ethnic minorities and other special populations, we have to better strengthen the use of evidence-based data that is used to make treatment, policy, and other health-related decisions,” said Gary A. Puckrein, Ph.D, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Minority Quality Forum.
NMQF is a research and educational organization dedicated to ensuring that high-risk racial and ethnic populations and communities receive optimal health care, by integrating data and expertise in support of initiatives to eliminate health disparities.
During today’s webinar, Dr. Maha Radhakrishnan, Chief Medical Officer at Biogen, will discuss how “Health outcomes are often dependent on factors beyond the control of patients and their doctors, such as disparities across age, gender, race, ethnicity, and socio-economic level. These disparities stem, in part, from inadequate representation in clinical trials, to barriers to accessing care, among several other factors. These challenges are particularly acute in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, where clinical trials have historically struggled to enroll participants from the Black/African American and Latino community. Through our collaboration with the NMQF, we seek to promote diversity in these trials, in addition to pursuing complementary RWE efforts that may open up these data collection efforts to a broader population.”
A replay will be available in the coming days of Dr. Radhakrishnan’s conversation with NMQF’s CEO Gary A. Puckrein.
The Biogen and NMQF white paper, A roadmap for real-world evidence generation in Alzheimer’s disease, is available here.
