The grant of $7.6m (€6.9m) will be provided to the organizations to support evidence-based interventions to address barriers to care and social determinants of health. This will include patient navigator training, cultural competency training, and services combatting barriers, such as transportation.
The type of evidence-based interventions will include digital and mobile interventions to improve health equity. Gilead outlined that the chosen organizations were selected based on criteria including their ability to create measurable and sustainable change toward health equity.
Gilead provided a list of the 25 grant awardees that are set to receive funding. The organizations include the Association of Community Cancer Centers, Coalition of Blacks Against Breast Cancer, and Vietnamese American Cancer Foundation.
Breast cancer care
“Gilead is committed to advancing health equity and supporting these vital patient advocacy organizations working to close gaps in breast cancer care. We believe our Toward Health Equity Oncology Grant awards contribute important new understanding to advance and care for anyone living with breast cancer,” said Deborah Telman, EVP, corporate affairs and general counsel, Gilead Sciences.
The move follows on from Gilead’s 2022 program, which saw the company provide $5.7m in grants to 21 US organization working to advance equity for black people impacted by triple-negative breast cancer.
The company’s newest initiative aims to target wider groups of “historically neglected and underrepresented communities,” which includes Hispanic, Jewish, LGBTQIA, Indigenous American, and other groups.
Gilead cited research from the US National Cancer Institute that outlines that people of color are at an increased risk of developing or dying from breast cancer due to social, environmental, and economic disparities.
Racially and ethically diverse
Across the industry, more effort is being made to address the disparity of health outcomes experienced across society based on race or ethnicity.
Last month, Amgen announced that it would provide $8m to the Winn Award Program set up by the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, which aims to train and develop racially and ethnically diverse clinical investigators. In addition, the program trains medical students of diverse backgrounds.
Gilead had also contributed to this initiative, when it provided $14m of funds to support training of physicians and medical students.
The same month, Bioethics International revealed that it had created a fair inclusion score to become a benchmark for clinical trial equality, diversity, and inclusivity for pharma companies.