Making Clinical Trials Diverse and Accessible

Finding diverse groups of qualified participants for clinical studies can slow the development of needed medicines. The difficulty in attracting racial and ethnic minorities, women, and the elderly also creates concerns that trial results will fail to reflect what would happen in the real world. Some 80 percent of clinical trials fail to meet enrollment deadlines and an average of 30 percent of participants drop out in part because of the location and duration of these studies. CVS Health in 2021 launched CVS Clinical Trial Services, which capitalizes on CVS’ rich database of patients and its large footprint that puts a CVS location within 10 miles of 85 percent of the U.S. population. We spoke to Owen Garrick, chief medical officer of Clinical Trial Services at CVS Health, about the company’s push into clinical trials, the need to expand the diversity of participants in these studies, and how CVS is leveraging its resources to increase access to and participation in clinical trials.