Addressing Disparities in Access to Cancer Care
- The effort to address the disparities in access to cancer care spans industries, so SurvivorNet sat down with Suneet Varma, Global Oncology & U.S. President at Pfizer, which just made a $43 billion bet via the purchase of cancer drugmaker Seagen, to learn what the company is doing.
- Varma stresses that there’s a long way to go before access to care is truly equitable. “We have a long way to go to make sure that our products are accessible, and the treatments and the screenings and preventions are being done in all of the communities,” he tells SurvivorNet.
- One aspect that many medical professionals are currently working to address is access and participation in clinical trials. Historically, trials, where new drugs are studied, have mostly enrolled white patients.
- Varma explains that one way to address these disparities is making sure those who live in so-called “medical deserts” can get access to trials.
Pharmaceutical company Pfizer, which created one of the COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic, aims to close the gap between access to quality care and its potentially life-saving drug treatments.
Read MoreAddressing Disparities in Cancer Care
- Close the Gap: Racial Disparities in Cancer Care Are Devastating– Let’s Change Things
- Cancer Trials Need More Black Participants; Here’s How We Can Close the Gap on Racial Disparities in Cancer Care
- How to Address Racial Disparities in Cancer Care
- Black Eyed Peas Rapper Taboo Says He Felt ‘Embarrassed’ After Testicular Cancer Diagnosis, Highlights Disparities in Health Care for Native Communities
“We have a long way to go to make sure that our products are accessible, and the treatments and the screenings and preventions are being done in all of the communities,” Varma said.
What’s Being Done to Make Healthcare More Accessible to All Communities?
People of color have long been under-represented in medical studies and clinical trials. While Caucasians make up the majority of clinical trial participants, Black Americans, for example, account for roughly five percent.
Varma acknowledges that more work needs to be done to address gaps in healthcare, such as clinical trials, which help doctors test treatment methods before the FDA approves them. He also points to environmental factors, such as medical deserts in economically challenged communities.
According to research published in the European Journal of Public Health, medical deserts are areas where people’s healthcare needs are unmet partially or totally due to lack of adequate access or improper quality of healthcare services. This could be due to high costs of services, insufficient facilities, or other socio-cultural barriers.
“We’re making sure we’re increasing the diversity in our clinical trials. We have structural mechanisms in place to make sure that we put clinical trials in those medical deserts and in centers, so we’d not only be able to make sure that those patients are equitably represented in our trials — seen, heard, and cared for — so when the data comes out, it includes persons of color.”
An added focus on increased diversity in medical deserts also benefits patients and healthcare practitioners by building familiarity with potentially life-saving drug treatments tested during clinical trials.
“The physicians have experience with the product; they can build their practices for the future, and they can confidently represent to the patient their involvement and the community’s involvement in developing that drug. Then, ultimately, when we go to market commercially and medically, we’ll be in a stronger position.”
Learn more about SurvivorNet's rigorous medical review process.
ANSWER QUESTIONS
