19 Aug Clinical trial access in the US: Where are today’s trials missing?

My Miranda McLaren, Clinical Trials Arena

According to the latest data from CISCRP, the physical location/proximity of a research study center is one of the most important factors in a patient’s decision of whether to participate in a clinical trial. However, recent research from GlobalData has highlighted the problems of the traditional model when it comes to reach. The interactive map below shows the number of ongoing single-country US trials being conducted per each 3-digit zip code region.

As the map represents, there are significant pockets of the US where no trial options exist, particularly in the Midwest’s East region (e.g. the Dakotas) and the South’s West region (e.g. Texas, Oklahoma). In addition, certain highly populous states offer a disproportionately limited number of clinical trial access opportunities. Texas, for example, is home to 9.04% of the US population as per 2023 census data, yet just 3.56% of today’s trials have a site there. A similar pattern is seen across all but one of the southern US states, with the exception being Delaware. Moreover, taking the southern states as a region and comparing it to the three other regions defined by the US Census (Midwest, Northeast, and West), the South represents the highest portion of the national population by far (37.45%) but has the second-lowest percentage of ongoing trials. Read more…