From May 2022 through December 2023 I worked with a pharma sponsor helping to enhance diversity in their clinical trials. Due to the contractual arrangement I was unable to post or blog or otherwise discuss the work I was doing. As a result, I have not posted here for quite a while. As we were making progress and making change I thought, for sure, that progress was also being made industry-wide. I thought I missed the boat to continue to support the industry.
I was sooooo wrong!
Over those 18 months I got to know one sponsor pretty well. Since leaving that sponsor I have had several opportunities to see behind the curtain of several other sponsors. Every company is struggling with direction, the strategy to take. In the Drug Information Association DEI in Life Sciences Community we have come to this conclusion – companies need more direction. We are not going to get blanket direction from the FDA, we need to collaborate to continue to evolve in this space. We need to share the lessons learned, mistakes made. The DIA DEI in Life Sciences Community wants to be that safe space to collaborate. Follow this link to the event page on this site and download the meeting to your calendar –
There is much work to do. We need to be sure everyone understands what community engagement means. We need to be sure everyone understands the resources and suppliers with whom we can work to get this done. We need to promote the change in thinking that will make room for real diversity in clinical trials. We can collaborate without sharing proprietary information from each of our companies. I look forward to working with you to continue the evolution of change in this space.
My Inspired Thoughts,
Dyan Bryson