Acclinate, an expert in health equity through inclusive research, is collaborating with Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, to help increase participation by members of the Black/African American community in Merck’s oncology clinical studies.
“We’re proud to be working with Merck because being a champion for health equity through inclusive research takes strategic orientation and proactiveness. We look forward to seeing how our continued collaboration can positively impact patients,” said Del Smith, CEO and Co-Founder of Acclinate.
As part of the initiative, Acclinate will utilize its NOWINCLUDED platform, a trusted health education and engagement source created by and for the Black/African American community. NOWINCLUDED offers access to health information and resources around disorders that disproportionately affect communities of color and provides a space for community members to share their experiences and connect. With a wealth of original and curated content, NOWINCLUDED is designed to build trust between healthcare providers and people from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups to empower them to make better-informed health decisions, including considering clinical trial participation.
Additionally, Acclinate will contribute its proprietary predictive analytics tool, e-DICT (Enhanced Diversity in Clinical Trials), that provides real-time reporting on community access and engagement activities and insights into potential participants. It also offers key features such as displaying access potential, tracking engagement and mobilization progress and is driven by a patent-pending Participation Probability Index (PPI) that assesses the likelihood of community members participating in clinical research.
“Community engagement is a key step toward increasing diversity in clinical trials,” said Adrelia Allen, Executive Director, Clinical Trial Patient Diversity, Merck. “We’re excited to collaborate with Acclinate to raise awareness among the Black/African American community of available clinical trials for people with cancer. It is important that our research appropriately reflects the communities we serve.”
Learn more here.