Underrepresented populations have been historically excluded from clinical trials including women, racial and ethnic minority groups, and pregnant, lactating, pediatric and geriatric populations. While the importance of including these groups in clinical trials are slowly being recognized and remedied, there are still questions in how currently prescribed drugs affect these populations, including the safety and efficacy of the medications.
"We know that even though we have more policies and regulations suggesting the inclusion of these underrepresented groups, that isn't always translated to what we see as clinicians and who makes it into clinical trials and there's a gap between policy and implementation," says Mira Maximos, PhD candidate in the University of Waterloo's School of Pharmacy. With how significant the gaps are, the need for informed inclusion of minority groups in research is highly important.
