The US patient recruitment specialist made the suggestion following the launch of an opt-in patient database which, it claims, enables sponsors and contract research organisations (CRO) to access ethnically-diverse populations.
Acurian said that despite the misperception that minorities are reticent about trial participation it has built up a database of 5.7 million African Americans, 10.3 million people of Hispanic/Latino descent, and 2.5 million people of Asian descent.
The firm went on to cite the utility of such data, explaining it used the database to recruit 240 African Americans participants for a Phase III study of a hypertension drug four months quicker than the anticipated in-patient recruitment deadline.
Scott Connor, company VP of marketing, added that: “Our customers are eager to enroll minorities to ensure their trials represent diverse demographics.”