Today is International Clinical Trials Day (ICTD), a day to celebrate the achievements resulting from clinical research. The theme this year is a hot topic – ‘Rethinking Clinical Trials: Inclusivity in Practice’.

Historically, clinical trials adopted a one-size-fits-all approach with white men as the default participants. Gender and ethnicity can both significantly impact the prevalence of some diseases, however, a fully inclusive approach to clinical research is still not a given.

Women are disproportionately affected by some health conditions, like autoimmune diseases, and may experience different symptoms and outcomes for many others. Additionally, biological differences between men and women – such as unique organs, genes and hormones – can have a profound impact on how their bodies absorb, metabolise and eliminate medicines. This not only impacts treatment outcomes, but also highlights that sex-specific dosing may help improve the safety and efficacy of certain medicines.

Ethnic minority groups are also underrepresented in clinical trials despite being disproportionately affected by many of the leading causes of chronic disease. This is due to factors such as mistrust in the health system, cultural and language barriers, health literacy, and pre-existing comorbidities.

The patient voice is critical when the designing and conducting clinical trials to ensure positive experiences and encourage a more diverse intake of participants. There are various ways to achieve this, but it is not done routinely. By embedding processes to understand participants’ experiences of trials and a medical condition, we can accommodate any of their specific requirements.

At UCB, we understand that trust, knowledge and information barriers exist in some communities, and we have established community-tailored approaches to encourage minority patient recruitment.

UCB’s Health Equity Community Leaders Board is made up of patients, principal investigators and community leaders in both the UK and the US. This Board has been created to build trust with patients and communities by designing inclusive studies with and for those living with Parkinson’s. This approach ensures that studies are inclusive of, but not limited to, the Black, African, Caribbean, and Hispanic/Latinx communities in the US and the Indian and Pakistani communities in the UK.

We have also set up Patient Councils in Parkinson’s to better understand patients’ experiences of Parkinson’s and wider views within their community. The Councils have provided feedback on key aspects of a phase 2 study, identifying specific study support that could improve recruitment, retention and the participant experience.

But there is no room for complacency: as an industry, we still have work to do. On this International Clinical Trials Day, it’s crucial to take some time to reflect on how we can build on these strong foundations to further promote inclusion of underrepresented patients in clinical trials.

#UCBUK

IE-OT-2500032 | May 2025