10 May Celebrating AAPI Heritage Month: Boosting clinical trial participation

By Eunjoo Pacifici, USC School of Pharmacy via The Association of Clinical Research Professionals (ACRP)

Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month in May pays tribute to the many contributions of these populations to the history and culture of the United States. Today, Asian Americans are well-represented in highly skilled jobs. For example, while making up only 6.6% of the U.S. workforce, they account for 43% of medical scientists. More than 1 in 5 (or 195,000) physicians and surgeons are AAPI, and 1 in 7 (or 132,000) are AAPI immigrants.

In contrast, Asian Americans are inadequately represented in clinical trials. For example, despite comprising 6% of the US population, Asian Americans accounted for just 2% of US clinical trial participants in studies between 2015 and 2019, based on 231 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data snapshots.

In this first blog in a series to mark AAPI Heritage Month, Eunjoo Pacifici, PharmD, PhD, describes her experiences and suggests ways to improve trial diversity. Pacfici is Chair of the Department of Regulatory and Quality Sciences and Associate Professor of Regulatory and Quality Sciences at USC School of Pharmacy. In addition to pharmacy experience, Pacifici has worked in clinical research at Amgen, focusing on the Asia-Pacific and Latin American regions. Read more …