A new analysis from researchers at UC Riverside and UC Irvine found that only six percent of pivotal trials conducted to gain approval for new drugs from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 2017 and 2023 reflected the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. population. The study, published in Communications Medicine , showed that there is a trend of declining enrollment of Black and Hispanic participants beginning in 2021 and cited structural features of where and how trials are conducted as key contributors to this inadequacy.

“Precision medicine relies on understanding how genetic differences influence treatment outcomes,” said Sophie Zaaijer, PhD, a geneticist with both UC Riverside and UC Irvine, and co-leader of the study. “If clinical trials under-sample large seg

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