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EDICT Project Releases White Paper on the Shortcomings of How Clinical Trials are Designed, Carried Out and Funded in the U.S.
(Washington, DC – April 1, 2008) EDICT Project releases a new white paper on major shortcomings in the way clinical trials are designed, carried out and funded in the United States with a press conference at the National Press Club in the nation's capital.
View the press conference . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/RA/EDICT_Press_Conference_4-1-20008.ram
See booklet describing the project . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Project_Booklet.pdf
Read the white paper . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Project_White_Paper.pdf
Review the latest draft of the policy recommendations . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Project_Policy_Recommendations.pdf
And read a news story about release of the white paper . . .
U.S. News and World Report news story

EDICT Project Completes Public Comment Period for Clinical Trials Policy Recommendations
(Houston, Texas – March 21, 2008) Using the same process as government agencies when implementing new policies, a national alliance of scientists, public health leaders, and community representatives called for public comment on a series of proposals designed to eliminate continued disparities in U.S. clinical trials. In response to this call feedback was collected online to each of the 33 specific recommendations from March 3, 2008 through March 21, 2008.
Download the March 3, 2008 press release . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Press_Release_20080303.pdf
Or go directly to the latest draft of the policy recommendations . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/EDICT_Project_Policy_Recommendations.pdf

EDICT Project the Focus of a Pharmacy and Therapeutics Journal Editorial
(December, 2007) In its December issue editorial, the pharmacy and therapeutics journal P & T explains how the EDICT Project encourages the participation of previously underrepresented groups in clinical trials, including the elderly, minorities, and rural residents.
See the December issue and read the editorial titled "Issuing an EDICT."

Poster Presented at Conference Hosted by the American Association for Cancer Research
(November 27-30, 2007) Project poster by Barbara Pence, Daniel Bustillos, and Armin Weinberg presented at "The Science of Cancer Health Disparities" conference in Atlanta, GA.
View poster . . .
http://www.bcm.edu/edict/PDF/AACR_EDICT_Poster_2007.pdf

NCQA Announces Awards Recognizing Innovation in Multiculural Health Care
(November 13, 2007) The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), recognizes nine managed care plans for innovative programs aimed at reducing health care disparities. From improving birth outcomes for African American teenagers to improving diabetes self-management among Chinese Americans, these programs improve health services for linguistically, racially and ethnically diverse populations.
Read the full NCQA News Release . . .
http://web.ncqa.org/tabid/595/Default.aspx

Project Represented at C-Change Annual Conference
(October 11-12, 2007) The EDICT Project was represented at the C-Change Annual Conference in Washington, DC by student intern Gabriela Pena; her mentor, Collegiate Cancer Council Co-Founder and Program Director Ahmed Khair T. Al-Kalla; and EDICT Project principal investigator, Armin D. Weinberg, PhD. Ms. Pena works with the EDICT opportunity team that focuses on publication related policies and her C-Change intern project focused on the State Comprehensive Cancer Control Plans in the United States.
For more information about C-Change see . . .
http://www.c-changetogether.org
For more information about the Collegiate Cancer Council see . . .
http://ccc.iccnetwork.org

Project Core Leadership Meets with Leadership of the Intercultural Cancer Council for a “Soft Launch of EDICT Policy Recommendations”
(September 6-19, 2007) Core EDICT Project leaders met for a launch of “draft” policy recommendations and implementation strategies. Formal presentation of the policy recommendations and their status of implementation will be presented at the Intercultural Cancer Council and Baylor College of Medicine’s “11th Biennial Symposium on Minorities, the Medically Underserved & Cancer,” to be held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, DC on April 3-6, 2008.
For more information about the 11th Biennial Symposium see . . .
http://iccnetwork.org/symposium/

EDICT Project Participates in Secretary’s Advisory Committee On Human Research Protections (SACHRP)
(July 31, 2007) The Opportunity Team, “Regulatory Oversight and Enforcement” was invited to participate on the panel ”Diversity in Clinical Trials” at the July 31 meeting of SACHRP, (SACHRP provides expert advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Assistant Secretary for Health on issues and topics pertaining to or associated with the protection of human research subjects in research). EDICT Team Chairperson, Dr. Barbara Pence, Associate Dean for Research for the School of Medicine and the Graduate School of Biomedical Science, Texas Tech University, presented information on the EDICT project and areas of policy research that are being pursued. She also contributed her team’s recommendations that SACHRP provide guidance to IRB’s on disparities in clinical trials, including accountability and enforcement for equitable inclusion, and research designs that take into account not only equitable participant accrual but also differential plans for retention of underrepresented populations.
For more information about this meeting see . . .
http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sachrp/mtgings/mtg07-07/mtg07-07.htm

Announcement of the CLAS-ACT and BackPack Projects
(May 7, 2007) In conjunction with Baylor College of Medicine and the Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC), officials from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health and Office on Women’s Health and the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities held a news conference to announce two complementary projects -- CLAS-ACT (Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Standards And Clinical Trials) and BackPack (a set of tools for researchers) -- that are among the first to apply new ways to reduce the cultural and linguistic barriers keeping many underserved patients from participating in clinical trials.
View the Recorded BCM Web Cast from the Press Conference
(Requires RealPlayer software that can be downloaded from http://real.com.)
Also listen to the related story on National Public Radio.

Disparities in Clinical Trials Information Submitted in OVAC Report to Congress
(March, 2007) A good example of EDICT’s initial education efforts was the ICC Caucus submission of information to OVAC (One Voice Against Cancer) related to disparities in clinical trials for inclusion in their FY 2007 recommendations for Congress and the Administration. The ICC Caucus is a member of One Voice Against Cancer (OVAC), a collaboration of nearly forty organizations representing millions of Americans affected by cancer. Based on EDICT’s initial policy education work, the ICC Caucus took the initiative to contribute the following language which was successfully incorporated into the report: “The Committee commends NIH for prioritizing increase in the number of participants from populations that suffer from health disparities as part of the NIH- health disparity research plan. Unfortunately, data from NIH-funded trials continually show that participation numbers from certain groups, including racial and ethnic minorities and the elderly, remain low. The Committee encourages NIH to revisit the issue of health disparities in clinical trials with a goal of increasing participation from under-represented populations.” In the past, OVAC has been highly successful in presenting critical issues to legislators related to cancer issues and funding.

For more information, please contact the Chronic Disease Prevention and Control Research Center at 713-798-4614 or edict@bcm.edu.