Encouraging Minority Participation in Clinical Trials

WHEREAS, minority participation, in particular African Americans, in medical clinical trials as sanctioned by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is extremely low compared to representation of the United States (U.S.) population; and 

WHEREAS, African Americans and other minority populations have a higher prevalence of various diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer, sickle cell and high blood pressure; and 

WHEREAS, there are more than 100,000 African American individuals with Sickle Cell disease in the U.S. and the trait is common among African Americans, occurring in approximately 1 in every 12 individuals; and in the United States, it's estimated that Sickle Cell Anemia affects 70,000–100,000 people, mainly African Americans. The disease occurs in about 1 out of every 500 African American births and about 1 out of every 36,000 Hispanic American births. More than 2 million Americans have sickle cell trait; and 

WHEREAS, few treatment options have been developed and approved for Sickle Cell Anemia and 63% of clinical trials for Sickle Cell disease were terminated due to inadequate enrollment; and 

WHEREAS, medical research has discovered that some medicines and treatments impact African Americans and other minorities differently than their white counterparts; and 

WHEREAS, there is a call from the medical research community for more African Americans to participate in clinical trials in order to provide generalized trial results to this population. 

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the NAACP supports and encourages its members to seek out opportunities to participate in medical clinical trials where appropriate; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED we strongly urge the NAACP to adopt Sickle Cell Disease as a priority health initiative; and 

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the NAACP launch a national campaign to inform and educate communities about the need for more African Americans participation in Clinical Trials Studies.